A Rift in Time
by CharmedBec
Summary: When a grownup Wyatt and Chris unexpectedly find themselves in an alternate and evil future, they must work together with their past family to prevent the universe from spiralling into utter chaos before it’s too late…
1. The Homecoming

**A RIFT IN TIME**

**Summary: **When a grown-up Wyatt and Chris unexpectedly find themselves in an alternate and evil future, they must work together with their past family to prevent the universe from spiralling into utter chaos before it's too late…

**Disclaimer: **The characters in Charmed do not belong to me. No infringement is intended, no profit is made. The characters of Emily and Chloe do belong to me though, but they can be borrowed as long as I'm asked first.

**Notes: **Hi everyone! Welcome to my new story. It requires a rather lengthy introduction so please bear with me.

This is essentially a Charmed Season 7/New Future Wyatt and Chris fan fiction. The Future part takes place in my 'Unrequited' universe, but if you haven't read that story then please don't let that put you off. It isn't necessary to have done so to understand this. If you do have the time and inclination however, reading it will help you understand some of the characters and their motivations a bit better.

Next follows a quick summary of the relationships established in Unrequited to introduce the non-canon characters and to set the scene for you. If you have already read Unrequited, then you can skip this next bit if you want, and just start reading Chapter 1 of 'A Rift in Time', which begins immediately after the summary. All you need to know is that it starts around two years after Wyatt and Chloe's wedding. If you haven't read Unrequited though, please do read the summary first or you might be a bit lost as to who is who.

**OOOOOO**

_**Previously in 'Unrequited'... **_

Unrequited was a future Chris (aged around 24) and Wyatt (aged 26) story. It assumed that Season 6 of Charmed took place but that only the first part of season 7 did. Therefore, no Avatars, Leo didn't completely lose the plot and is also still an Elder. He is the headmaster of Magic School however.

Wyatt is good, Chris is the grown-up baby Chris from the TV show and Piper didn't die. Also, having had a happy upbringing, this Chris is more relaxed than, and not as intense as, the first Chris was. Both boys teach at Magic School – Chris full-time and Wyatt part-time. They also both know about the other Chris, although they weren't told about him until their early twenties. There is a general family consensus that, while the two Chris's are biologically the same person, they are two separate individuals in a personal sense. Piper and Leo view themselves as having three sons because of this.

Unrequited started with my original character, Emily Hargreaves (aged 23) moving into the apartment below the one that the grown-up Wyatt and Chris shared in the future. Emily is a witch, but she had a 'magic-light' upbringing due to an incident in her parent's past where her father, David (a mortal) witnessed his younger sister (also called Emily and Emily's Mom's best friend in college) being brutally murdered by a demon.

He therefore believed all magic to be bad and his wife Bella respected his wish to keep magic out of their family's life, although she never lied to their daughter about what she was. Emily only started experimenting with her powers when she went to college therefore, and was having some difficulty controlling her telekinesis and potion-making skills when she first met Wyatt and Chris. She quickly became friends with both boys, but clicked much more with Chris and eventually started to fall in love with him. Chris was still involved with Bianca at this point however, so Emily's feelings went largely unrequited (hence the title of the story).

About this time, the second of my original characters, Chloe Simpson was introduced. She's Emily's cousin and a witch also. The two girls are more like sisters than cousins however. This is because they're both only children and grew up alongside each other in their hometown of Oakenvale (a made-up place in small-town America somewhere). Chloe was still living there when she had a serious car accident in Chapter 7 of the story.

Because Emily couldn't get a flight home quickly enough, Wyatt and Chris orbed her there instead, and, upon arrival at the local ER, they discovered that Chloe had only been given a few hours to live by her doctors. Luckily, Wyatt was able to heal her, although he could only do so in short bursts because he didn't want to expose magic by having her recover too quickly. He kept visiting her in hospital to make sure she got better, and then finally healed her completely when she was discharged several weeks later.

Ostensibly to avoid gossip about her miraculous recovery, but really because she and Wyatt had begun to fall for each other, Chloe then came to stay with her cousin in San Francisco. While Emily continued to struggle with her feelings for Chris, Wyatt and Chloe started dating. Chris meanwhile, was having issues with Bianca, because although he loved her, he couldn't really see himself being with her forever. He didn't feel like he could admit to that however, because the first Chris had wanted to marry her and everyone - including Bianca herself - just assumed that he'd feel the same.

The situation eventually came to a head when Emily was kidnapped by demons and during her rescue, she saved Chris from being killed by one of them. Bianca, along with Chris, realised her true feelings at that point, but each reacted rather differently to the discovery. Because Emily had never tried to come on to him, Chris didn't think she should be blamed for simply feeling the way that she did. Bianca though, was not of this opinion and the couple ended up having a huge row about it, which was unfortunately witnessed by a mortified Emily. Dismayed that her secret feelings had been exposed, she decided to take a job transfer to LA in an attempt to move on with her life.

Chloe and Wyatt were pretty close by this time however, so Chloe stayed on in San Francisco and set up her own business there – an alternative therapy practice where she combines her college training as a dietician, her potion-making skills and her empathic power of aura-reading (she can read and manipulate people's auras) to help people.

The story then jumped on seven months. Wyatt and Chloe got engaged, and Chris and Bianca split up when he eventually realised that it wasn't fair on either of them if they continued to live a lie just because they were apparently destined to be together in a different future. Chloe persuaded Emily to move back to San Francisco to help with the wedding arrangements, and she and Chris re-established their previously close friendship, although Emily was a little bit wary about getting too involved because of what had happened before.

The rest of the story centred on Wyatt and Chloe's wedding plans, the boys' relationship with their family, plus Chris and Emily's slowly developing mutual love for each other. After finally getting together, the couple had a few troubles because Emily was still extremely insecure and scared of being hurt again. They eventually ironed out these difficulties however, and the story ended with Wyatt and Chloe getting married, and Chris and Emily happily in love.

'A Rift in Time' begins approximately two years later…

**OOOOOO**

**Chapter 1 – The Homecoming**

**_The Year 2030 - Wyatt and Chloe Halliwell's apartment, two years after their wedding…_**

Coming home after a full day of classes at Magic School, twenty-eight year old Wyatt Halliwell orbed into the lounge, his school robes slung carelessly over one arm.

"Chloe?" he called as he emerged from the cloud of blue lights in the centre of the living room.

"In here," his wife's familiar voice echoed from their bedroom.

Tossing his work-clothes over the back of one of the armchairs, he quickly walked down the short hallway to the master bedroom. Pushing open the door, he found Chloe surveying her reflection in the full-length mirror fixed to the wall. She flickered a brief glance at him as he entered the room and then returned her gaze to the glass in front of her.

"I'm a whale," she said, pouting disconsolately.

Folding his arms across his chest, Wyatt leaned casually against the doorframe and smiled. "Yeah," he agreed, "But a very beautiful whale."

"You haven't quite learned the art of tact yet, have you darling?" Chloe said sarcastically. "You're supposed to try and make me feel better about myself, not knock my confidence further."

Her husband laughed and then crossed the room to join her. "You are my beautiful…" He bent to kiss the side of her neck, "Gorgeous…" He tenderly pressed his warm lips to her temple. "Wife, who just happens to be…"

"Unable to see her own feet," Chloe cut in grumpily.

"Carrying our first child," Wyatt finished, stroking his hand over her prominent seven-month pregnancy bump.

As if on cue, their unborn baby chose that moment to wake up and Wyatt grinned as he felt the pressure of a tiny foot against his palm. "Hey little guy!" he murmured.

"Or girl," Chloe pointedly reminded him.

"Or girl," Wyatt agreed, "Although I'm definitely erring on the side of guy."

"You haven't cheated, have you?" Chloe said, twisting her head around and looking at him suspiciously, "Because we said we'd wait and see."

"No, I haven't cheated," her husband assured her. "Let's just say I have a feeling."

"A feeling encouraged by your Aunt Phoebe? Or just a feeling?" Chloe enquired with a knowing look.

"Didn't I just say I hadn't cheated?" Wyatt replied, protesting his innocence. "Besides I don't think it's possible for her to tell unless she gets a premonition, and I doubt the sex of our child is particularly relevant when it comes to saving innocents."

"No," Chloe agreed. "Boy or girl, it likes to interfere regardless."

"Why? Did something else happen?"

"Oh yes," Chloe said, sitting down on the edge of the bed to take the weight off her swollen ankles. "Baby Halliwell decided to help out with Mrs Evans' aura-alignment today. By the end of it, she was so chilled, she was practically horizontal – her family is probably going to think she's on drugs or something."

"It's not funny, Wyatt," Chloe chastised him when he started to chuckle. "The impenetrable shield and instantaneous healing I can live with, but this… I have a professional reputation to maintain, you know."

Her husband grinned as he sat down beside her. "Yeah, I imagine my Mom felt much the same way when I turned her blowing up power into flowers."

Chloe giggled. "You didn't."

"Apparently so - I suppose my pacifist whitelighter side must have been developing that day."

Chloe nodded and then her face lit up. "Hey! Aura aligning's _my_ power."

"I was wondering how long it would take you to figure that one out," Wyatt remarked with a smile. "I guess Next Generation Halliwell in there." He lightly poked her stomach, "Takes after his – or her – Mommy as well as their Daddy."

"Mmm," Chloe agreed, and then leaned forward to kiss him, looping her arms about his neck as she did so.

"We should start getting ready," she said when they drew apart. "We don't want to be late."

"I don't see why not," Wyatt said as he stood up and tugged her to her feet, "I'm pretty sure the guests of honour are going to be."

"They're not back yet?" Chloe asked as she waddled rather ungainly towards the on-suite bathroom.

Wyatt shook his head. "Not unless my sensing power has gone suddenly awry, no," he replied. "They're still on a different continent to the rest of us right now."

"I thought Chris said they'd be back today," Chloe said with a hint of exasperation in her voice, "Your Mom is _not_ going to be impressed if they're a no show tonight. She organised this welcome home dinner especially."

"I know," Wyatt said, "And Chris does too. So if he knows what's good for him, he'll be there - or else be prepared to suffer the consequences. I know which option I'd prefer if it were me."

Chloe giggled at the slight rueful way in which he said this. "Which is precisely why I should take pointers from your Mom on keeping our children in line," she quipped with a mischievous smile.

"Humph," Wyatt grunted in a non-committal tone as he reached inside the shower stall and turned on the water for her.

"I can do that myself, you know," Chloe protested mildly, unfastening her wraparound maternity dress and letting it drop to the floor behind her.

"I don't want you slipping over," Wyatt said. "Your centre of gravity is not where it normally is right now."

"Tell me about it," Chloe agreed with a long-suffering glance downwards at her protruding stomach, "But I'm pregnant not an invalid. And thousands of expectant women manage to take showers every day without any help."

Wyatt chuckled. "All right – point taken. I'm being annoyingly overprotective, aren't I?"

"Just a bit, but then I'm big enough to forgive you the occasional lapse so… And I did _not_ mean that literally!" she exclaimed as her husband's face split into a broad smile at her unintentional pun.

"I don't like you," she pouted, stepping into the shower and shutting the frosted screen on his grinning face.

"Unfortunately, Mrs Halliwell, there's overwhelming evidence to the contrary on that," Wyatt said, perching on the edge of the bathroom counter so that they could continue with their conversation while she showered.

Chloe let out a silvery little laugh. "Well, I can't exactly argue with that in my condition, can I?"

"'Fraid not," her husband concurred. "The ring on your finger is a bit of a giveaway too."

"Mmm... Speaking of rings – you reckon someone else will have one on her finger tonight?"

"I wouldn't like to say."

"It's about time your brother got his act together, don't you think?"

Wyatt shook his head with a laugh. "Says you. Why are you so desperate to marry them off anyway?"

"I'm not – it's just that they've been seeing each other for two years now and living together for the past eight months. Plus, they've just spent three months travelling around the world together. Why is Chris so scared to make things official?"

"I don't actually think he is," Wyatt replied calmly. "Everyone is different, Chloe. From what I've seen, he and Emily are perfectly content as they are. They'll make it official when they're ready – whether that's now or in ten year's time, what does it matter as long as they're happy?"

Chloe sighed. "It doesn't, I guess. I just worry about Emily getting hurt again, I suppose."

"That was a long time ago, Chloe - and it wasn't Chris's fault either."

"I know that."

"So stop fretting about it then. Look, if it makes you feel any better, it's not like it was with Bianca, okay? Chris doesn't have any doubts in that respect. He adores Emily, you know he does. He's totally committed to their relationship and would never do anything to hurt her. And besides, she doesn't seem unhappy to me anyway – the complete opposite in fact."

"You would have to be the logical one, wouldn't you?" Chloe grumbled good-naturedly.

"Well, someone has to be. Don't you think you're getting a bit obsessed with the idea of them getting married?"

"I just want them to be happy that's all - and properly settled before the baby's born."

Wyatt laughed. "What does that have to do with anything?" he said. "I'm pretty sure our baby couldn't care less whether they're married or not. He or she'll be spoiled rotten regardless."

"I didn't say it was a rational want, did I?" Chloe replied in a huffy tone.

Much to her annoyance, Wyatt continued to chuckle at her illogical reasoning. "I think your nesting instinct may have gone a little bit haywire," he remarked laughingly. "It's our home you're supposed to be making ready for the baby's arrival, not its Uncle and potential Aunt's!"

"Can we change the subject now please?" Chloe demanded in a plaintive tone.

"Why when this one is so much fun?" her husband countered teasingly.

"Wyatt!"

Wyatt laughed, hearing the pout in her voice even though he couldn't see it on her face at the moment.

"Since you haven't got anything better to do - other than annoy me that is - why don't you make yourself useful and go and unpack the stuff your Mom brought over from the Manor this afternoon?" Chloe said acidly, informing him in no uncertain terms that their previous discussion was over.

"What stuff?" Wyatt asked as he hopped down from the counter-top.

"I'm not sure. She didn't really say. The box has 'WYATT' written on the side of it though, so I'm guessing whatever's in it belongs to you. I put it in the nursery if you want to take a look."

Wyatt frowned. "I thought I brought all my things over here when me and Chris moved in," he mused.

"Not everything, obviously," his wife said. "And you're not going to find out what you missed unless you open the box, are you?"

"Why do I get the impression that you're trying to get rid of me?" Wyatt enquired with a vague note of complaint in his voice.

"Because I am," Chloe bluntly replied, the smile on her face evident in the light, teasing cadence of her words.

Wyatt shook his head in amused resignation as he made for the door. "You're lucky I'm not super sensitive or I might have taken offence at that," he informed her dryly.

"Just beat it, Wyatt," she responded in a droll tone.

"Fine, I think I will, seeing as my so-called loving wife insists on abusing me with every other sentence!" he returned in mock indignation.

Chloe's resultant laughter followed him out of the room and he smiled broadly in response. Two years had passed now since their wedding, and his wife was still as adorable as ever. Their marriage had been a resounding success so far. Sure, they had their ups and downs like most couples, but they'd been extremely happy for the most part. He'd never once regretted marrying her and had no qualms about moving things onto the next level now. Having children was, in some ways, an even bigger commitment than marriage, and although he certainly had some anxieties about becoming a father, he was completely sure of his choice of mother for his children.

After passing through the main bedroom again, he stepped back out into the short corridor off which the apartment's other bedroom and large family bathroom were accessed. Twisting the handle of the door opposite, he entered the bedroom that was once the domain of his younger brother, but which had now been transformed into a nursery for his and Chloe's coming child.

The walls were painted a pale lemon yellow and a border of stencilled zoo animals encircled the room at approximately waist-height. A beech-coloured chest of drawers, shelf unit and matching closet were positioned along the length of one wall, and a large, wooden cot stood in the opposite corner, ready and waiting for its intended occupant's arrival into the world. The brightly coloured mobile, which was to hang above their baby's bed, was still packed safely away in its box however, along with various other essential items required by their impending newborn – plastic bottles, sterilizers, diapers and the like.

Chloe had placed the large, cardboard box that Piper had dropped around earlier on top of the chest of drawers, and Wyatt strode quickly across the room towards it, eager to see what was inside. A criss-crossing pattern of packing tape held the mysterious box closed, and his name was written in his Mom's familiar script across two sides of the cardboard container.

The box was also slightly dusty on top, which told him that it had resided in the Manor attic until recently. The attic was the only room in his childhood home that was ever dusty. Piper's super-efficient housekeeping ensured that the rest of the rooms were spick, span, and dust-free at all times. Pulling a strand of the packing tape free with his thumb and forefinger, Wyatt ripped open the box with a little boy's enthusiasm and peered inside.

"Wuvey!" he exclaimed in a delighted tone, reaching inside to pull out his once much-loved, but ultimately abandoned teddy bear.

The brown, fluffy toy had been washed so that he looked almost brand-new, and Wyatt reckoned that the bear had acquired a new pair of eyes and a restored nose along the way too. Propping up the teddy on top of the chest of drawers, he reached inside the box again and withdrew a large, blue blanket with the Charmed Triquetra embroidered across it. This was followed by a plastic teething ring that was slightly chewed around the edges, and a silver photograph frame that held a picture of his Mom, Dad and what he assumed must be a newborn him inside of it. His baby self was wrapped snugly in the Charmed blanket and both his parents had wide, beaming smiles on their faces, as if they'd just been presented with a gift from heaven.

Wyatt felt a warm glow fill him up from the inside as he gazed down at the slightly faded photo in his hands. In a few short weeks, he and Chloe would probably be wearing similar expressions of overwhelming pride on their faces as they held their own newborn child in their arms. He tenderly traced the edge of ridged photo frame with his forefinger, and then suddenly shivered as an unexpected sense of foreboding washed over him.

The room around him seemed to shift out of focus, fading into the background. The freshly painted walls turned a soot-streaked, off-white colour and peeling paint patches and damp spots marred their surfaces at regular intervals. The lush, newly laid carpet was suddenly threadbare and dirty, while the bright, cheery sun streaming in through the large, square window waned to a muted, miserable grey light. The air around him was chill and musty, and you could smell the underlying damp in the walls and floorboards every time you drew breath…

"So – what was in the box?"

Wyatt blinked twice in rapid succession and found himself back in the warm, sunlit nursery once more. Whirling around in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, he frantically reassured himself of his location, his heart rate galloping and his breath coming in short, shallow gasps.

"Wyatt – what is it? What's wrong?"

Noting the frightened concern in Chloe's voice, Wyatt forced himself to meet her violet-eyed gaze with a calmness that he didn't feel inside. His heavily pregnant wife was standing in the doorway, wrapped in a voluminous bathrobe, and with her long, blonde hair hanging in wet tendrils about her pretty face.

"Nothing, I… nothing," he said.

He didn't have the power of premonition. So how could he have seen what he'd just seen? There was no point in worrying Chloe with this until he knew more, not in her condition anyway. He would talk to his father and brother tonight, see what they thought about it. The Elders always seemed to have prior warning when something big was afoot, so his Dad would know if there was anything in particular that he needed to worry about.

There was a tinkling orb sound then, and Wuvey disappeared from his perch atop the chest of drawers and reappeared in Chloe's outstretched hands. She looked rather taken aback for a moment, and then she smiled, the worried expression fading from her face and her eyes softening as she looked tenderly at the toy in her hands.

"Aww! He's cute. Was he yours?"

Grateful to his son – or daughter – for providing a timely change of subject, Wyatt nodded. "Yeah, he was in the box, along with these." He showed his curious wife the blanket and the photograph. "I guess Mom thought we might want them for the baby."

"Well, the baby certainly wants Teddy," Chloe remarked, touching gentle fingers to her rounded belly in an almost unconscious gesture. "What's his name anyway?"

"Wuvey."

Chloe giggled. "What kind of dumbass name is that?" she asked.

Wyatt grinned in spite his underlying anxiety. "I haven't the faintest," he replied with a laugh. "He's always just been Wuvey."

"Well, Wuvey it is then," Chloe said, plumping up the toy and straightening his slightly wonky ears and black button nose. She crossed on bare feet to the cot on the far side of the room and sat the bear on top of the folded bedclothes inside.

"How about we leave Wuvey here for now, sweetie?" she said in a sing-song tone to the developing baby in her womb, "'Cus Mommy needs to find something suitable to wear for dinner at your Grams' tonight. And Daddy needs to get ready too or we'll be late, and your Grams definitely won't like that."

Wyatt grinned. "Yeah, word of advice, little one. On family dinner night, make sure you, your brothers and sisters arrive first. That way your cousins will cop the flack for being late instead. It's always worked a treat with your Uncle Chris."

"Wyatt!" Chloe remonstrated disapprovingly. "Stop teaching our baby devious habits. You're supposed to be setting a good example."

Wyatt playfully wrinkled his nose at her. "I am," he said with aplomb, "I'm teaching him not to be late for family dinner night."

"But only so he – and his currently non-existent siblings - can get one over on their equally non-existent cousins!" she exclaimed.

"Well, they've gotta have some fun in life, haven't they?" he retorted unrepentantly.

"Wyatt!" Chloe protested with a helpless little laugh. "Behave, will you?"

Her irreverently unapologetic husband grinned impishly at her, and then began to laugh as well…

**OOOOOO**

**_Meanwhile at a five-star hotel in Venice, Italy…_**

Emily Hargreaves leaned against the balcony railing, looking out over the large expanse of water and architectural splendours that comprised the view from the luxurious hotel's third floor windows. It was still a few hours until sunrise, but the pre-dawn air was muggy and humid, and only marginally cooler than the sweltering heat of the previous day. A slight breeze ruffled her wavy, shoulder-length red hair however, taking the edge off the sultry temperature and allowing her to savour her surroundings in relative comfort.

"Emily – it's nearly time to go," Chris said, as he emerged from the air-conditioned coolness of their hotel room out onto the warm, moon-drenched balcony.

"I know," she said with an almost regretful sigh. "I was just taking one last look at the view. It's so beautiful here."

Coming up behind her, Chris placed his hands either side of hers on the railing, then rested his chin on her shoulder as they looked out together over the night lights of the famous city. "Saved the best for last," he remarked with a smile.

"Mmm, you sure did," Emily concurred wholeheartedly. She leaned back against him and surveyed the cluster of sparkling diamonds on the third finger of her left hand.

The small, pinprick sized jewels had been artfully arranged into the triquetra symbol of Chris's family, while a triangular-cut, azure-blue sapphire formed the centrepiece of the unusual assembly. Emily wasn't quite sure whether Chris had had the ring especially made, or whether he'd magically altered it himself. She hadn't really thought to ask him in the forty-eight hours since she'd accepted his proposal. She'd been floating somewhere in the vicinity of the outer-stratosphere since then, and it hadn't seemed particularly relevant somehow. She asked him about it now though, curiosity getting the better of her.

"I kind of cheated," her fiancé admitted sheepishly. "They were going to charge me a fortune for something I could just as easily do myself."

"You didn't just conjure the whole thing, did you?" Emily asked suspiciously.

Chris laughed. "No – I'm not quite _that_ cheap," he said. "The sapphire was originally set in a double circle of diamonds – I can change it back if you want."

"Don't you dare!" Emily clutched her left hand against her breast, protecting her precious ring from harm. "I love it just the way it is."

Chris pressed a kiss into her soft hair. "Yeah, I kind of noticed that," he murmured silkily, his voice low and seductive in tone.

Emily flushed pink at that, and then berated herself for doing so. How, after two years together, did he still have the capacity to make her blush like a schoolgirl? You'd think she'd have gotten used to it by now. But no, he still caught her unawares on a regular basis and obviously delighted in doing so too.

"You make it so easy," he told her with a low chuckle, uncannily picking up on her train of thought.

She twisted around in his arms and shot him a censorious look, but that only made him smile even wider. Looking up into his laughing green eyes, she capitulated as she always did.

"You're a very bad man, Christopher Halliwell," she reproved with a sensuous pout and an airy toss of her flame-red tresses.

"And yet you love me," he said, responding with his familiar refrain before he ducked his head and quite deliberately pressed his mouth against hers.

Emily sighed and wrapped her arms around Chris's back as his lips repeatedly claimed hers in a series of protracted and searing kisses. His fingers tangled in her hair as he held her still for his embrace, and the slow, circling movement of his thumbs at her temples made her swoon like a gushing heroine in a historical romance novel.

"Yes, definitely a bad man," she concluded dreamily when they eventually broke apart.

Chris smiled down into her cobalt-blue eyes, his green eyes twinkling merrily. "I aim to please," he quipped, and she slapped him lightly across the chest in protest.

"Chris!" she admonished.

He laughed and then grimaced slightly. "You do know everyone is going to be expecting an announcement when we get back, don't you?" he said.

"No really?" Emily asked, all wide-eyed and ingenious. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Call it a hunch," Chris responded dryly. He made a face. "I hate being so predictable," he lamented.

Emily giggled. "So what are you suggesting? That we don't tell them?"

Chris's eyes took on a cunning glint. "Maybe," he said slowly. "My family are just that little bit too sure of themselves sometimes, don't you think?"

"I always wondered where you got that from," Emily shot back teasingly.

"Funny," Chris responded with flat sarcasm and she laughed.

"You're serious, aren't you?" she asked after a beat of silence.

"I'm not suggesting we keep it secret forever," Chris replied. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I am happy about this…"

"Glad to hear it."

"It would drive them crazy though," he continued slyly. "Aunt Phoebe'll tie herself in knots trying to wring a confession out of us."

Emily laughed. "Now _that_ I can believe," she said. "And Chloe's not going to be much better either - she's been asking leading questions every time I've called her since we've been away."

Chris grinned. "It'll be worth it just for the entertainment value then."

Emily smiled up into his face, her blue eyes dancing with silent laughter. "I can't believe I'm actually agreeing to this," she remarked in a slightly disbelieving tone.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Chris exuberantly lifted her off her feet and kissed her soundly on the lips. "That's my girl," he said, spinning her around in his arms and making her laugh out loud.

"What about my ring though?" she asked him, when he eventually set her back down on her feet. "I don't want to take it off."

"I think we can work a little magic to make it invisible," Chris replied, lightly tracing the outline of the ring with his forefinger.

"You think of everything, don't you?" she said.

"Well, I try," he told her with false modesty.

"We're not going to keep it secret for too long though?" she wanted to know.

"Of course not," Chris reassured her. "Just for today, twenty-four hours at most. Just long enough for them to regret their presumptuousness."

"Of course, their presumptions are actually bang on the money in this case," Emily felt the need to point out.

Chris shrugged with an affected air of indifference. "So? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything I'd say."

"Nah! That's where you're wrong. It's the principle of thing, you see."

"Of course it is," Emily's voice was rife with sarcasm.

Chris crossed his eyes at her. "Do you always have to think the worst of me?" he enquired plaintively.

Emily giggled. "Pretty much, yeah," she told him archly.

"You know, I believe I might want to take my proposal back."

"You can't do that." Emily's response was quick and immediate. "How will you pull your family's leg if you've got nothing to conceal from them?"

She threw him an impudent little smile and Chris laughed his rich deep laugh. "I so love you," he declared, curling his hand around the nape of her neck and kissing her with unconcealed enthusiasm.

"Mmm, I love you too," Emily murmured as she kissed him back with equal fervour…

**OOOOOO**

**_The Halliwell Manor, a couple of hours later…_**

Piper Halliwell-Wyatt glanced at the grandfather clock in irritation and then down at the watch on her wrist. "You told him seven o'clock, right?" she demanded of her eldest son.

"Nineteen hundred precisely," Wyatt intoned crisply, trying to suppress a grin but not entirely succeeding in the attempt.

Chloe punched him lightly on the arm and he looked at her in mild protest. "What?" he asked innocently.

"You know," she told him in a tone so like his Mom's that he almost cringed.

"Hey! It's not my fault little brother has the worst time-keeping ever!" Wyatt protested as his gaggle of female cousins started to giggle at their Aunt's growing chagrin.

A frosty look from Piper silenced them in a flash, and Wyatt was forced to duck his head as he bit back his own laughter. The twinkling sound of orbing came from the hallway then, and his brother's familiar voice rang out seconds later.

"Hey? Anyone home?" he called.

"You're late," Piper said, striding into the hall to greet her wayward son.

"Only twenty minutes," Chris replied, nonchalantly shrugging off his tardiness. He grinned widely at her. "And I had to make the grand entrance after being away for so long, didn't I?" he added roguishly.

Piper shook her head with an exasperated laugh. "You've got some front, you know that, mister?"

Chris laughed. "So, did you miss me?" he asked as he leaned down to hug her hello.

"Like a hole in the head," she teased, returning his embrace with a mother's tender affection.

"Hey!" he protested and Piper laughed again.

"Let me look at you," she said, taking his hands in hers and stepping back to survey what changes, if any, his travels had wrought in him.

It had been three months; she didn't think she'd ever gone that long without seeing one of her boys. The months travelling around the world had obviously agreed with him however. He was tanned and healthy-looking, with a smattering of brown freckles across his nose and his green eyes shining like polished emeralds. His hair was a little longer, slightly unruly, and a stray lock flopped brazenly across his forehead making her itch to push it back.

As Leo stepped forward to greet their son, Piper's gaze shifted onto Emily, who was standing quietly by Chris's side, allowing them the time to savour the return of their wandering adventurer before she made her presence felt. The young witch's normally pale skin was lightly tanned, although with her fair complexion she'd obviously taken care to protect herself from the sun's harmful rays whenever possible. The outdoor life had coloured her rich auburn hair with streaks of gold however, and her blue eyes glowed with a calm, inner happiness.

Moving forward, Piper reached out and hugged her son's girlfriend with ready affection. "Welcome home, honey."

"Whoa! You're big!" she heard Chris exclaim from behind her, and felt Emily dissolve into laughter even as she smiled inwardly to herself. Tact was not one of her son's stronger personality traits it appeared.

While Wyatt reached out and cuffed his sibling upside the head, Chloe stuck her tongue out at her brother-in-law, and then turned and held out her hands towards her smiling cousin. Emily stepped into the offered embrace and hugged her tightly.

"He's right, you _are _big," she teased when they drew apart.

"Yeah and I missed you too," Chloe responded with a roll of her eyes. "So?" she asked expectantly.

"So – what?" Emily responded with an absolutely straight face.

"Did you get up to anything interesting on your travels?" Chloe asked with heavy emphasis.

"Oh yeah, it was fantastic," Emily replied with genuine enthusiasm. "What we saved orbing instead of flying meant we had money left over for all sorts of little luxuries. We had an authentic mud bath - which was an experience and a half, I can tell you. And the helicopter ride above the Swiss Alps was just amazing! Wasn't it, Chris?"

She turned to look at her as yet undisclosed fiancé, who nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, the views were incredible," he said. "Do you think we could talk about this over dinner though? I've been hankering after one of Mom's home-cooked meals for weeks!"

"And it smells like my favourite," he added with an affectionate glance at his mother.

"Italian baked chicken," she confirmed.

"And homemade cherry cheesecake?" he prompted.

"Of course," Piper replied with an incline of her head.

Chris rubbed his hands together in delight. "Okay, let's get stuck in then," he said, taking Emily's left hand in his and leading her through into the dining room. "I'm starved."

"It's not even breakfast time yet," Emily said, reminding him that their body clocks were still on a different time zone to everyone else.

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" he replied. "Food is food whatever time of day it is."

He smiled affectionately at her and clandestinely rubbed his thumb over the invisible ring on her finger, as they took their seats at the table. Emily smiled back at him, her blue eyes warm with the shared knowledge of their secret engagement. With Wyatt's help, Chloe lowered her heavily pregnant form into the chair directly opposite them, a slightly putout expression marring her pretty features. Unable to stop himself, Chris let out a short laugh at the chagrined look on his sister-in-law's face.

"What?" she demanded suspiciously .

"Nothing," he replied in an airy tone, "Just remembering something that's all."

Chloe's eyes narrowed slightly, but she chose not to pursue the matter further. Lowering her head to conceal her smile, Emily nudged Chris pointedly in the ribs and they both had to bite back snorts of laughter as a result. The next test of their resolve came after the first course was served and Phoebe looked enquiringly across the table at them.

"So how was Paris?" she asked.

"Paris?" Chris responded blithely.

"Yes," his Aunt replied with a nod. "I mean you had to visit Paris – it's supposed to be one of the most romantic cities in the world."

"Well, it was okay, I guess. The view from the Eiffel Tower was pretty spectacular…"

"Yeah, we went up at night," Emily chipped in helpfully. "You could see the whole city from up there."

"And the Louvre was something to experience," Chris went on conversationally. "I'm not particularly into Art, but the place gets to you somehow."

Emily nodded in agreement. "And we took a boat ride on the Seine too," she continued, making them sound like a pair of enthusiastic tourists rather than a young couple heady on love.

In fact, the days that they'd spent in Paris had been some of the most romantic of their whole trip. Emily had been fully expecting Chris to propose on their last night there, and had had to push back the bitter sting of disappointment when, after three wonderful days, he hadn't. She should have known he wouldn't take the obvious route, but she had suffered a brief wobble of uncertainty about their relationship nevertheless.

In the end, she concluded that it didn't really matter as long as they were together. Chris, sensing that she was having a bit of an insecurity attack, had taken care to reassure her that by her side was where he wanted to be, certain in the knowledge that he'd be giving her the surety she needed before long. He'd been extra loving and slightly more tactile than usual until she'd finally relaxed and accepted that his failure to propose was no indication of his lack of regard for her.

When he did eventually ask her to marry him therefore - over dinner in their luxurious hotel room in Venice - it had taken her completely by surprise. She'd been speechless for a minute or more before she'd finally managed to gather her wits enough to say yes, and she knew that Chris had been extremely gratified that she hadn't seen it coming in the slightest…

_**Two days before…**_

"You didn't think I wanted to marry you," he teased, as they lay together on the reclining wooden lounger out on the balcony, gazing up at the stars twinkling brightly in the indigo-black sky above.

Emily felt a delicate blush rise to her cheeks. "No, I just…" she trailed off, unable to deny that she had thought that. She turned onto her side and rested her forearm across his chest, placing her chin on top of her hand as she looked up into his face.

"I decided it didn't particularly matter as long as you loved me," she told him.

Chris reached out and coiled a lock of her titian hair around his forefinger. "Which is exactly why we _should _get married," he said quietly, "Because love matters above everything else."

Sliding up his body so that her face was level with his, Emily proceeded to communicate her earnest agreement of his statement with a serious kind of kiss that could only have one possible conclusion…

_**Back in the present…**_

"Concentrate," Chris murmured in her ear, recognising the slightly glazed look in her eyes and worried that it might give the game away.

Emily came back to herself with a jump, realising that the conversation had moved on while she'd been lost in her daydream. Chris smiled down into her eyes and then bent to kiss her, despite his previous concerns about letting the proverbial cat out of the bag. The kiss was brief but heartfelt, and Emily could sense every eye upon them as their mouths clung together for a few, tantalising seconds and then released with a soft, wet popping sound.

Straightening up, Chris nonchalantly picked up his knife and fork and carried on eating as if nothing untoward had happened and Emily, trying desperately not to laugh, quickly followed suit, conscious of the frustrated speculation palpable in the air around them. It was glaringly apparent that no one knew what to make of the situation – and just as obvious that they did not like being kept in the dark about it either.

She and Chris clearly gave the impression of being a couple deeply in love, but this was offset by their apparent lack of need for a formal commitment to one another. Emily knew that Chris's family, although liberal in some ways, still held rather traditional values when it came to love and marriage. She was therefore fully aware that, while their co-habitation was tolerated now, they would not be very happy if it continued indefinitely without the promise of a more permanent arrangement.

Her own parents held similar opinions, she knew, so it was fortunate that both she and Chris had been raised to respect and value those strongly held beliefs. If Emily was brutally honest with herself, she knew that she could not have accepted the status quo for very much longer anyway. As much as she loved Chris, she would have needed that commitment from him before long. Okay, so it wasn't necessary right now, but in a few years' time, she would have been questioning whether he was really serious about her if marriage still hadn't been on the cards.

The rest of the meal passed in a similar fashion, with various family members asking pointed and sometimes extremely direct questions, which Chris and Emily expertly fielded with the skill of a couple of professional baseball players. By the time coffee was served, the young couple were definitely winning the metaphorical game, whereas the majority of the other side were sullenly languishing on the substitute bench.

As they retreated into the lounge area after dinner, Chloe tried a different tactic however, drawing her cousin to one side for a more private, one to one chat. Emily deftly countered this strategy by turning the conversation on its head and questioning her cousin about the progress of her pregnancy instead. It was a perfectly legitimate enquiry – Emily had been away for three months and a woman's first baby was one of the most life-changing experiences of her life. It was normal for her to want to know how this had affected her cousin's life therefore.

Watching the two girl's contest from the sidelines, Chris had to admit that he was rather impressed with his fiancée's virtuoso performance. Emily had a devious streak in her nature that he hadn't fully realised until now. He would be marrying an intelligent, complicated and very resourceful woman, he knew. Still simple and straightforward was boring and Chris was not one for an easy life. He liked a challenge and he knew that being married to Emily would challenge him every single day of his life.

"Umm – Dad? Chris? Can I have a word please?"

Chris turned at the sound of his brother's diffident question. Wyatt was standing in the doorway between the lounge and hall, and, from the strained look on his face, Chris knew that the time for light-hearted fun was over. Nodding in quiet acquiescence, he obediently followed his father and brother upstairs to the attic – the place where all such serious discussions were conducted.

Wyatt sat down on the sofa with a heavy sigh, silently contemplating his hands in his lap for a moment before he lifted his head and looked directly at his father. "Something weird happened today…" he began, and Chris listened with growing concern as his brother outlined the strange experience that he'd had in the nursery earlier.

"I know I don't have the power of premonition, but this just seemed so real," he finished. "Have the Elders heard anything about a new threat on its way?"

Leo shook his head. "No, but I'm not sure this had anything to do with that. You were in the nursery, you say?"

Wyatt nodded. "You don't seem very concerned," he remarked.

Leo smiled. "Probably because I'm not," he replied, "It's as you said – if there was a real threat imminent, the Elders would know about it. I think maybe this has more to do with you than anything else."

"I don't understand."

Leo sat down beside his anxious son and steepled his fingers together in his lap. "You were in the nursery thinking about what becoming a father would mean to your life, I presume?"

"Well yeah, I suppose."

"And you were concerned that you might somehow fail your child," Leo went on wisely.

"I guess so, yeah." Wyatt's voice was slightly wary as he admitted to this.

Leo reached out and patted him reassuringly on the back. "We all go through that at some stage, Wyatt," he assured him. "Having sole responsibility for another human being is a big deal for anyone. More so for us when you think about what bringing another Halliwell into the world entails. I'd be more worried if you weren't anxious about it to be honest."

"I don't see how this is relevant to what I saw though."

Leo shrugged. "You've made your fears become real before," he said.

Wyatt's eyes widened. "I have?"

"Yes, when you were small. I think it was your way of dealing with things."

"I bet that was interesting," Chris remarked with a sly grin.

Leo smiled at his younger child. "There were a few hairy moments," he admitted before he turned back to his other son. "The point is though, Wyatt - providing a secure, happy home for your child is one of the most fundamental aspects of being a parent. You were probably just unconsciously projecting your worries onto your surroundings, turning the safe haven that you've created for your baby into somewhere that was uninhabitable for him."

"So I'm going crazy, is that it?" Wyatt asked ruefully.

Leo shook his head. "No, not at all. What you're going through is perfectly normal…"

"Well, in relative terms anyway," he clarified off Wyatt's look of disbelief and Chris's snort of laughter. "You're aware of it now – that should be enough to stop any more of these little side trips into make-believe land. Face what you're feeling, Wyatt. Don't sublimate it and things will be fine."

Wyatt nodded. "So, did I conjure my nightmares a lot?" he asked curiously.

Leo laughed. "No, just every so often, thank heavens. You grew out of it when you could talk enough to communicate what you were feeling."

"So our baby might do the same thing?"

Leo smiled. "Considering what powers he or she appears to have already, I think that might be a distinct possibility, yes. Forewarned is forearmed though, Wyatt. At least you and Chloe won't have to work out what on earth is going on like me and your Mom did."

"And that's such a comfort," Wyatt said with a slight grimace. "I think it's best if I don't mention this to Chloe just yet. She's having enough trouble with the whole powers from the womb thing."

"Who thought fatherhood could be such a trial?" Chris quipped lightly, and then dodged quickly out of the way when his brother orbed one of the sofa cushions at him in retaliation.

Leo laughed. "Oh, it has its compensations, believe me," he replied, getting to his feet. "Now come on. We better go back downstairs before your Mom sends out a search party."

"So Chris – what exactly did you and Emily get up to while you were away?" Wyatt asked as the three of them trouped down the stairs in single file with the youngest at the front and eldest at the back.

Chris threw a rather cryptic smile over his shoulder, his expression deliberately impassive and giving nothing away. "Ahh well," he said. "That's for me to know and you to find out, isn't it?"

Wyatt's lips twisted into a wry smile. "Somehow I knew that was going to be your answer."

"So, why bother asking then?"

"I'm endlessly optimistic, bro," Wyatt returned dryly. "One day you might just surprise me…"

Chris's ensuing silence spoke volumes and Wyatt shook his head in long-sufferingly exasperation.

"But then again, maybe not," he swiftly recanted. "That'd be too good to be true, wouldn't it?"

"You said it, bro – just remember that, huh?"

Wyatt scoffed. "Well, it's not like I'm ever going to forget, is it?" he remarked acidly.

Chris laughed and then re-entered the lounge, where he was immediately cornered by his inquisitive Aunts, who proceeded to work in tandem to exact a confession out of him. Their nephew was having none of it however, and the two legendary Charmed witches were left disappointed, thwarted by their own flesh and blood's unique and canny ability to circumvent every one of their underhand methods of persuasion.

So it was then, as he and Emily bid his family farewell later on that night, Chris had to admit that he hadn't had so much fun in ages…

_**To be continued…**_

**A/N2:** _And that's the calm before the storm, folks! I should probably mention that the first few chapters of this story are, out of necessity, mainly future-based. They're almost exclusively centred on Wyatt and Chris as well. The Charmed Ones and Leo do come in to it later however._

_P.S. I looked up the name of Wyatt's teddy bear on the subtitles of my Charmed Season 7 DVD. 'Wuvey' was what Leo called it when he was trying to get little Wyatt to give it to him at the end of the 'Imaginary Fiends' episode. _


	2. Lost in Time

**A RIFT IN TIME**

**Summary: **When a grown-up Wyatt and Chris unexpectedly find themselves in an alternate and evil future, they must work together with their past family to prevent the universe from spiralling into utter chaos before it's too late…

**Disclaimer: **The characters in Charmed do not belong to me. No infringement is intended, no profit is made. The characters of Emily and Chloe do belong to me though, but they can be borrowed as long as I'm asked first.

**Notes: **Hi! Here is part 2 of my new story, 'A Rift in Time'. Some of the Chris/Emily scenes in this chapter are distinctly adult in nature, although I don't think they're graphic enough to warrant an increase in story rating. Please do be forewarned though.

I also forgot to mention in the Unrequited summary that Chris's powers had developed during the course of that story. This is something that's alluded to in this chapter, so for the information of those who haven't read Unrequited, Chris has inherited a watered-down version of his Mom's freezing and blowing up powers. They're all mixed up with his telekinesis though, so have slightly different effects to Piper's powers. He can slow objects down rather than completely freezing them, and is able to expand the energy of them as well. For example, if a demon threw an energy ball at him, he'd be able to slow it down with his semi-freezing power, return it with telekinesis and transform it into a huge fireball with his energy-expanding power.

Anyway, enough of the waffle, let's get on with the story…

**OOOOOO**

**Chapter Two – Lost in Time**

_**Chris and Emily's apartment, 11.45pm…**_

Replacing her toothbrush in the holder next to Chris's, Emily turned away from the sink and headed back into the bedroom, switching off the fluorescent strip light on her way out. In contrast to the bright light of the bathroom, the adjoining bedroom was bathed in shifting shadows, the muted yellow glow from the lamp on the dressing table the only light to illuminate the darkened room.

Chris was standing at the full-length window, looking out over the starry night-sky, clad only in a pair of blue, loose-fitting pyjama bottoms. Emily had always loved her fiancé's sinewy physique, and she surreptitiously paused in the doorway to admire his body from a discrete distance. The young witch-whitelighter was tall and lean with only a hint of underlying muscle dissecting the sculptured contours of his shoulders and back. Although not overtly muscular like his brother, there was nothing weak about him whatsoever however. He exuded a quiet strength that made you feel utterly protected, and Emily knew that he would defend her with his life if it ever came down to it.

Padding across the carpeted floor on bare feet, she wrapped her arms around his midriff from behind and pressed a soft, gentle kiss against the nape of his neck. "Hi!" she murmured against his warm skin.

"Hi!" he quietly returned, a hint of amusement evident in his tone. "Was there something you wanted?" he asked, as she placed a steady stream of little kisses down between his shoulder blades, following the path of his spine with her exploring mouth.

"Maybe," she told him coyly.

Chris twisted around to face her, and she gazed up into his handsome face as he tenderly brushed her titian hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ears. Smoothing his fingers down the graceful lines of her throat, he dipped his head and brushed his lips against hers in the barest of butterfly kisses. Emily sighed in dreamy contentment, then stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck as he purposely deepened their embrace, pressing his mouth more assuredly against hers the second time around.

Chris's hands automatically slid downwards to seek out the curve of her hips, and Emily allowed him to lift her off the floor and up into his arms. Winding her legs around his waist to keep herself steady, she peppered his face and neck with sweet kisses as he carried her over to the bed and laid her down atop of the bedclothes.

"So, are you tired?" he asked, as he leaned over her supine form, his hands braced either side of her head and his dark hair falling across his forehead and into his eyes.

Emily's lips curled up into a mysterious little smile as she looked up at him through demurely lowered eyelashes. "Not noticeably," she told him with a flirtatious show of faux modesty.

"Well," he said with quiet satisfaction. "I guess I'd better make the most of it then, hadn't I?"

His green eyes twinkled at her suggestively, and Emily giggled rather wickedly, a faint blush tingeing the apples of her cheeks.

"Baby, I thought you'd never ask," she declared, and then reached up, slid her hand around the back of his neck and firmly pulled him down on top of her to emphasise the point…

**OOOOOO**

_**Wyatt and Chloe's apartment, one floor above…**_

Wyatt leaned against the doorframe, his tall, muscular frame silhouetted in the light of the bathroom behind him. Chloe had not noticed his presence yet, so he took the opportunity to observe his beautiful wife, undetected. She had a kind of innate grace about her that he absolutely adored, but also radiated a quiet sense of normal too. She was everything he'd never known he'd wanted in a woman and then some.

She currently sat propped up against a mound of pillows with her pregnant belly exposed to the elements. She had her right palm pressed flat against her bump, whilst her left arm gently hugged the curved underside of the beach ball-like protuberance. With her head cocked to one side, she listened to the resonant sound of her unborn baby's developing aura and a tender smile spread across her pretty face as she felt his or her movements from within.

"Is he kicking?"

Chloe looked up at the sound of her husband's voice and smiled. "Trying out for the soccer team more like," she said dryly.

Wyatt laughed, flipped off the bathroom light and crossed the room to join her. Climbing into bed, he rested his head against her belly, pressing his ear against the tautly stretched skin of her distended abdomen. Chloe's gently caressing fingers immediately found their way into his hair, and the two of them lay together in contented silence for a while as he listened to the shuffling sounds of their child's internal workout.

"Are you going to tell me what happened today?" Chloe's enquiring voice eventually broke through the tranquil quiet.

Wyatt turned his head and kissed her exposed stomach, then sat up and gently tugged down her nightshirt to cover up her bump. "I can't get anything past you, can I?" he said in a rueful tone.

Chloe shrugged. "I know you," she told him simply. "You covered it up pretty well, but something had you spooked this afternoon."

"It was nothing, honestly," Wyatt reassured her. "Or at least Dad didn't seem to think so anyway."

"How do you mean?"

Wyatt quietly explained the disturbing vision he'd had and his father's seemingly apt explanation for it.

"And you think he's right about that being all it was?" Chloe asked.

"I've no reason not to think that," Wyatt replied noncommittally.

Chloe shot him a worried look and he sighed. "His explanation reassured me to start with," he told her, "But there's just something not quite right… I don't know - it's kind of hard to explain…"

"A magical hunch, maybe?" Chloe suggested.

"Something like that, I guess," Wyatt agreed with a nod. "There's nothing much I can do about it right now though," he continued matter-of-factly. "I'll rope in Chris tomorrow and we'll do some reconnaissance work – check things out on the demon front just to be on the safe side."

"Don't you sometimes wish for an ordinary life?" Chloe asked him rather plaintively.

Wyatt curled his fingers into hers, lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed the back of her knuckles. "All the time," he told her, "Especially right now."

He placed their joined hands over her baby bump to illustrate his point and Chloe closed her other hand over the top of his with a soft sigh.

"You'd never be able to live that kind of existence though," she pointed out astutely. "All this is too much a part of who you are. You'd be bored within the space of a month if you didn't have any magical crises to keep you busy."

Wyatt inclined his head in mute acceptance of that fateful truth. "It's okay to dream every once in a while though, isn't it?"

Chloe nodded. "Just as long as you don't start thinking the grass is greener on the other side."

"You don't think it would be?" Wyatt asked, somewhat surprised by his wife's comment.

Although at one with her magical upbringing, Chloe had never embraced it in quite the same way that her cousin had – or as he and his brother did for that matter. She helped out where necessary, but largely stayed in the background where the demon hunting was concerned. She used her magic for more commonplace, everyday things instead – like her alternative therapy business for example.

It was an agreement that they'd reached early on in their relationship. Being with him made her a target, so she'd taken a step back, knowing that if anything happened to her, he'd never forgive himself. It didn't always work; of course - his demonic enemies had singled her out countless times for their malevolent schemes. She wasn't target practise for every single demon that he came up against however, and for that, he was extremely grateful. It could have easily been so very different.

Chloe shook her head in answer to his query. "I think it'd take something important away from the person that you are," she explained. "I may wish for a little bit of peace and quiet every so often, but I'd never want to change you, not really, and not being 'Twice-Blessed' would definitely do that. You wouldn't be the man I love anymore, and that's not something that I'm prepared to sacrifice, not even for a demon-free life."

Cupping the side of her face in his hand, Wyatt leaned over and kissed her, communicating his loving gratitude with tender affection. Settling back against the pillows, Chloe closed her eyes and kissed him back, her fingers lightly massaging the ropy muscles in his back as he snuggled down amongst the rumpled bedclothes with her, enveloping her fully in his warm, strong-armed embrace.

"I love you," he murmured softly when he eventually lifted his mouth away from hers.

"You don't say," Chloe teased, her cheeks flushed and her lips bee-sting swollen from his ardent kisses.

"Do you have to be so facetious?" he complained with a frown, "I'm trying to be serious here."

Chloe laughed and planted a warm, chaste kiss on his lips. "I love you too," she said, stroking her hand up and down his arm as they lay on their sides, facing each other, their bodies as close as her pregnant belly would currently allow.

Wyatt reached out and ran his fingers through her long cascade of wavy blonde hair, loving the silky feel of it against his skin. "And I should think so too, Mrs Halliwell," he declared, dropping another kiss on the tip of her nose before his hand moved possessively downwards to rest in the small of her back.

His wife stifled a yawn without much success, and he smiled gently at her. "Tired?" he enquired.

"Mmm, I've been carrying this whole other person around with me lately. He may be small, but he still gets kind of heavy."

Wyatt grinned. "I can imagine," he said as he solicitously rubbed her aching back for her. "Not long now though."

"No," Chloe agreed with a nervous little smile.

"You scared?" he asked.

"Petrified," she admitted candidly, "But being a Mom… well, there's only one thing that I've ever wanted more."

"Oh, and what's that then?" Wyatt enquired, already knowing the answer – or so he thought.

"Hot fudge brownies and vanilla ice-cream," she told him solemnly and he promptly stuck his tongue out at her. "Well, them and you," she amended with a tinkling little laugh.

Wyatt kissed her lightly on the forehead and then lay his head down on the pillow next to hers. "Go to sleep," he instructed as he reached up to turn off the light above the bed.

Chloe obediently closed her eyes and snuggled down against him, letting out a soft, weary sigh as the room was plunged into darkness.

"Wyatt?" she murmured drowsily after a few moments of quiet.

"Mmm?"

"They were just messing with us tonight, weren't they? Chris and Emily, I mean. He _did_ ask her to marry him while they were away, didn't he?"

Wyatt chuckled. "I think that might be a distinct possibility," he concurred. "Sometimes my brother has a rather warped sense of humour though."

"Tell me about it!" Chloe agreed emphatically. "Not that Emily's much better," she added after a beat.

Wyatt grinned. "They're a match made in heaven then, aren't they?" he concluded.

"Haven't I been saying that all along?" Chloe responded with a distinct hint of 'I told you so' in her voice.

"Chloe?" Wyatt said her name in a slightly plaintive tone.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Go to sleep."

She humph'd disconsolately at him. "Spoilsport," she murmured and then fell silent, her fatigue finally overwhelming her valiant efforts to stay awake.

Lying beside her in the still darkness, Wyatt listened as her breathing slowly evened out and took on the rhythmic cadence of sleep. He dropped a kiss into her sweet-smelling hair, closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. A few minutes later, the sandman beckoned for a second time, and then quietly and efficiently carried off his intended target not long after that …

**OOOOOO**

**_Chris and Emily's apartment, 1am…_**

"So when _are _we going to tell them?" Emily asked her fiancé, as she absently twisted her engagement ring around on her finger.

In spite of the late hour, they were both still awake, each very much on European time at the moment. Emily lay reclined comfortably against the pillows, a sheet tucked around her body, while Chris lounged indolently on his front beside her, his chin resting in his upturned hand. Turning his head and fixing his green-eyed gaze on her face, he took in her dishevelled appearance and smiled broadly in response.

"What?" she asked, self-consciously touching her hand to her breast.

"You're so beautiful," he told her with breathtaking honesty.

Emily blushed rosily but just about managed to retain her composure. "And you're not answering my question," she retorted.

Chris laughed and then relented. "Tomorrow," he decided. "We'll tell them tomorrow."

"Or rather today," he amended after a brief glance at the luminous green numbers of the bedside clock. "We'll go and tell Wyatt and Chloe first, pay a visit to my parents next, and then orb over to Oakenvale to see your Mom and Dad after that."

"That's if we make it out of Wyatt and Chloe's alive," Emily remarked.

Chris grinned. "Oh, I think we'll survive," he said. "Can't say the same when your Dad finds out though."

"Chris!" Emily admonished quietly. "He got over all of that ages ago."

"You reckon?" Chris asked somewhat dubiously. "He's friendly enough now, I suppose, but I think he'd much rather I didn't exist all the same."

Emily sighed, knowing this was – at least partly – true. While her Dad had by and large managed to come to terms with his issues about her practising magic, he remained haunted by his sister's horrific death nevertheless. He therefore tolerated the situation rather than openly accepted it, welcoming his daughter's boyfriend into his family's life with not quite as much enthusiasm as he may have done under different circumstances.

Emily didn't think that her Dad actually had any personal objections to Chris, it was just the Halliwell name and all its connotations that he had difficulty with. He made an effort and that was all she asked. She just hoped that things would improve over time. The first time her Mom had insisted she brought Chris over for dinner - a couple of months after Chloe and Wyatt's wedding - things had been awkward to say the least. Now though, it was all relatively relaxed and affable when they went to visit.

It helped that they didn't live in each other's pockets really. If her Dad knew everything that went on in San Francisco, he might be less inclined towards civility, she knew. Her father would never quite share the same relaxed relationship with the man she loved that she herself did with Chris's family, but they were on the right track and that was enough for now.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put a dampener on things," Chris softly apologised, reaching out and lacing his fingers through hers in a conciliatory gesture.

Emily shook her head. "No, no, you didn't," she reassured him, "And I think Dad will be okay once he gets used to the idea. He doesn't actually dislike you, you know, and he had to know this was on the cards."

"I can't quite see your Dad reading the cards somehow," Chris quipped in an effort to lighten the mood.

Emily giggled and slapped him lightly across the buttocks in retaliation. "Behave!" she playfully reprimanded him.

Chris laughed rather wickedly and moved to blanket her body with his. "Now when have you ever known me to do that?" he enquired archly.

"One can always live in hope," she said as he nuzzled at her neck with inquisitive lips.

"Don't wait too long," he murmured roguishly in her ear, and then drew her to him once again, his ardent intent abundantly clear…

Afterwards, as they lay entwined in each other's arms, the need for sleep finally overwhelmed them. With a negligent flip of his fingers, Chris telekinetically turned off the lamp on the dressing table and drew up the covers over the two of them. Emily nestled down against him, tucking her head under his chin and draping her right arm around his middle.

"I love you," she whispered into the hollow of his throat, her lips moist against his skin.

"Naturally," he concurred with playful aplomb.

"The correct response is 'I love you too,'" she told him, digging him reprovingly in the ribs.

She felt him smile into her hair as he pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "It is?" he enquired lightly

"Did you want to sleep on the couch?" she asked him rather pointedly.

Chris chuckled. "Relax," he said soothingly. "It just so happens that I love you too."

"Well, that's all right then, isn't it?"

"Somehow, I thought you might be of that opinion," he replied, then laughed, slipped his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to his to kiss her a heartfelt goodnight…

**OOOOOO**

**_The Halliwell Manor, 3am…_**

With an impromptu jerk, Leo Wyatt sat bolt upright in bed, rudely jolting his peacefully sleeping wife awake in the process.

"Leo?" Piper asked rather groggily, as her husband threw back the covers and hurriedly scrambled out of their bed. "What's the matter? What is it?"

"I'm being jingled," he told her shortly, turning on the light and quickly going to the closet to retrieve some clothes to wear.

"What? Now? In the middle of the night?" she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as he tugged on a pair of casual sweatpants and pulled a t-shirt on over his head. "Can't it wait until morning?"

"Obviously not," Leo replied, putting on his socks and shoes with as much energy as he could muster in his currently half-asleep state.

Alerted by the expression of worried concern on his face, Piper experienced a sinking feeling of icy dread in the pit of her stomach. "It's bad isn't it?" she asked, a question her husband answered with his eyes rather than his mouth.

She shivered with foreboding. "Should I wake the others?" she asked. "Paige, Phoebe, the boys?"

Leo shook his head. "No, not yet – let me find out what's going on first." He stood up and bent to kiss her a brief goodbye. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised and then orbed out in a swirl of blue lights.

"Up There' was in absolute chaos when he arrived. Elders and whitelighters alike were scurrying this way and that like frenzied mice, all obviously preparing for something with an urgent amount of haste.

"LEO!"

Leo turned to see his friend, Alagon striding towards him, his movements purposeful and his expression grave. "They need you in the council chamber immediately."

"What is it? What's going on?" Leo asked, as he fell into step beside his friend.

The other Elder shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure exactly. Zola said he'd explain more when we got there. Whatever it is, I don't think it's good."

Half an hour later, Leo fervently wished he'd stayed in bed. "Are you absolutely sure about this?" he demanded of his sombre-looking colleagues.

"We've checked and double-checked, Leo," Sandra, one of the female members of the Elder Council told him. "All the signs point towards it."

Leo sighed. "I should go and warn them then," he said and turned to leave.

Zola stepped forward and blocked his path however, forestalling him with a firm hand against his chest. "No, Leo," he said with an insistent shake of his head. "There isn't enough time. If we don't do this now, all could be lost forever."

"But…" Leo objected, and then trailed off as the brutal reality of the situation sank in.

"I'm sorry, friend, truly I am," Zola sympathised, "But we need to get started before it's too late. Your sons will just have to adapt. They're resourceful young men. They'll cope with whatever is thrown at them, I'm sure. That's the reason they've been chosen after all."

"That's not really the point," Leo said with a petulant note of complaint.

"I know, but do we really have any other choice?"

Leo sighed, knowing that they didn't. "All right," he reluctantly agreed. "Let's get this done then…"

**OOOOOO**

It happened in a split second instant. Time as we know it slewed sideways in a titanic lateral shift.

Memories were destroyed and new ones created. Families were divided and lovers irrevocably separated. Darkness arose from the shadows like some twisting, encroaching vine, and the light buckled under the strain of its uncompromising grip.

In that one single moment, everything that was became but a distant echo, a faint resonance of a time that fickle history had cruelly chosen to forget…

**OOOOOO**

Chris jerked awake with a violent start.

At first, he was unsure as to what had roused him so abruptly, but it wasn't long before that became abundantly clear. He was no longer in his soft, comfortable bed with Emily's warm body nestled intimately against his side. Instead, he lay alone on a lumpy mattress with broken springs digging into him every time he as much as moved a muscle. A threadbare blanket covered his body and his skin itched where the scratchy wool had irritated his flesh during the night.

Cautiously sitting up, he took in his immediate surroundings, his heart racing ten to the dozen inside his chest. The room he was in was medium-large in size and seemed vaguely familiar somehow, although why this was so, he was at a loss to explain right now. He'd certainly never lived in a place like this before, that was for sure.

It looked like some ill-used squat, sparsely furnished with nothing more than the mattress that he'd been sleeping on, a hard-backed wooden chair and a rickety old chest of drawers that had seen better days for company. There were streaks of greying mould on the walls and ceiling, while bare, un-sanded floorboards were the only thing underfoot. Sheets of damp, brown cardboard served as drapes at the windows and the dawn light filtered in through the gaps between them, making the cloud of dust particles that hung in the air all around sparkle like tiny fireflies.

Perhaps what was more surprising, however, was that he didn't appear to be a prisoner in this strange place. He was unchained, the door stood slightly ajar and there was no evidence of enforced captivity in sight. Reaching out with his sensing power, he checked for proof of life in the surrounding vicinity and discovered the presence of two individuals that he hadn't been expecting at all. Leaping to his feet, he hurried to the door, wrenched it open and pattered down the short corridor like a sniffer dog seeking out its chosen prey.

The hallway opened out into a large, rectangular room with a bank of windows running the length of one wall. Like the room he'd just come from, the external light had been muted by pieces of torn cardboard together with a dirty dustsheet, which had been tacked to the window-frame with rusty drawing pins. A pitted wooden table with three dented chairs stood in one corner, and a sunken old sofa was pushed back against the wall to his left. In the very centre of the room, there was another mattress, a double this time, and the two people he'd come to find lay fast asleep atop of it.

Wyatt looked different somehow. His wheat-coloured hair was longer for a start, and he also looked thinner, his usual tanned, healthy glow swapped for an altogether more pale and gaunt look. Chloe's thinness was even more pronounced, an incongruity that was emphasised by the round bulk of her distended abdomen and the dark rings under her eyes. Her long blonde hair, which was usually a shiny mane of glossy golden curls, was instead straggly, unkempt and quite obviously in need of a wash.

Stunned by his brother and sister-in-law's altered appearances, Chris looked down at his own body and quickly discovered that they weren't the only ones who seemed to have lost weight virtually over night. His ribs and collarbones stood out in sharp relief against his translucent skin, and he quickly became aware of the raw ache of hunger that gnawed at his stomach like a rodent ferreting for scraps of food amongst the garbage.

What the hell was going on?

With that question thundering around inside his brain, Chris stood frozen in mute inaction for a moment, and then hurried forward, squatted down beside his brother and roughly shook him awake.

"Wyatt," he hissed in a low, urgent tone. "Wake up."

"Mmm, what?" Wyatt's voice was slurred with the vestiges of sleep. "What time is it?"

He opened his eyes and gazed groggily up into his brother's face until his transformed surroundings suddenly seemed to register on him.

"What the…?"

The blond witch-whitelighter was definitely awake now, his blue eyes wide with stunned disbelief. He jolted upright, his gaze flickering this way and that as he tried to process what he was seeing. With a soft, grumbling murmur, Chloe stirred restlessly beside him and his eyes sought out her face as she slowly emerged from her world of innocent slumber.

"Jesus!" he swore under his breath, as he took in his wife's unhealthy-looking pallor and starkly angular cheekbones.

"Wyatt?" Chloe looked up at him, confusion rife in her violet-blue eyes. "What? Where… where are we?"

"Good question," Chris replied for his brother, belatedly galvanising himself into some kind of action.

Rising purposely to his feet, he shook off his shocked stupor and strode over to the window. After tossing aside various bits of cardboard, he roughly tugged the makeshift drape free of its restraints, leant his forearms on the windowsill and looked outside.

The street below was both acutely familiar and completely alien to him. The three of them were in their apartment block - that's why the layout of the place seemed so familiar. He'd been sleeping in what, back home, was the master bedroom in both their apartments, while Wyatt and Chloe had apparently made the lounge their sleeping quarters.

Outside, the sidewalk was pitted and potholed and seemed devoid of life. The surrounding buildings were pretty derelict, much like their own apartment block, but there was some evidence of human habitation around, despite the lack of visible people. A burnt-out car stood abandoned across the street directly opposite, for instance. In addition, black garbage bags littered the sidewalk at frequent intervals, while discarded drink's cans rolled around in the breeze with a tinny clattering sound.

Chris swallowed the lump that had arisen in his throat with some difficulty. It was as if he'd woken up during a scene of his worst nightmare. The world as he knew it was painfully changed, unrecognisable from what it had once been. As that awful truth registered, something else occurred. Emily. Where on earth was Emily?

At first, he'd thought that he, Wyatt and Chloe must be caught up in some demon's carefully laid trap, so the fact that she wasn't with them hadn't particularly worried him because it basically meant that she was safe. Now though, he couldn't be sure of that, so he quickly reached out with his mind and searched for her familiar presence.

It took him a while to locate it, and, when he did, it didn't exactly put his mind at rest. She felt different for one thing. Moreover, she was hundreds of miles away – in Oakenvale as far as he could tell. His sense of direction seemed a little off at the moment, which was worrying. Why would Emily be in her hometown when he was here? It didn't make any sense. What kind of crazy parallel world had they woken up in?

"Wyatt? What is it? What's wrong?"

Chloe's voice carried a faint edge of panic to it, and Chris was rather surprised when Wyatt didn't make any attempt to quieten her distress. He was usually very solicitous in that way, especially where his beloved wife was concerned. Turning away from the window, Chris returned his gaze to his brother and felt a sharp sense of foreboding run through him

Wyatt hadn't moved a muscle. He sat stock still, his eyes wide and bewildered and his face drained of all colour. Something wasn't right, something more than the shocking reality of their current circumstances.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Chris demanded, echoing his sister-in-law's question but with an insistent note of command in his voice.

"I…I…" Wyatt stuttered incoherently and then finally managed to compose himself. "Do you have your powers?" he enquired of his brother.

"What?" Chris was confused by the question but answered anyway. "Umm yeah, I think so. I mean I sensed for you and…" He orbed in and out on the spot just to make sure. "…That still works."

"And the rest?" Wyatt pressed, his gaze intent.

Chris frowned. "Why is this important?"

"Just answer the damn question, Chris!"

Stunned into obedience by his brother's uncharacteristic display of irritability, Chris crooked his fingers at a chipped mug that stood on the table in the corner. With a disjointed surge, it flew through the air towards him, but his telekinesis did not feel as tightly controlled as it usually did. Holding up his palm, he nonetheless attempted to slow the cup's movements with his semi-freezing power.

"Stop!" he commanded.

Unfortunately, instead of hovering in mid-air like he expected it to, the mug plummeted to the floor and smashed into numerous little pieces as soon as it was released from his telekinetic pull. His eyes widened in shocked surprise.

"Okay, so I guess not everything works," he concluded.

Wyatt nodded, his expression grim. "At least you're not completely devoid of power," he said.

"What are you talking about?"

Wyatt pressed his fingers to his temples. "I can't hear _anything_," he said. "And I feel… blank. My power is…" There was a quiet note of despair in his voice. "It's gone, Chris. Just gone."

Chris shook his head in emphatic denial. "No, it can't have," he insisted. "Maybe your sensing power is just a little off. Try to orb."

"I can't!" Wyatt was on his feet now and pacing in tight, agitated circles. "Haven't you been listening? I know what my power feels like, damn it! I feel it thundering through my veins every single hour of every single day. I'm telling you, it's not there anymore!"

Chloe stifled a frightened sob at that, and that finally seemed to bring Wyatt back to his senses. "God, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he murmured, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. He kissed her forehead and stroked her tangled hair.

Chloe looked up at him, her eyes wide and scared. "What are we going to do?" she asked. "I don't understand. What's happening? Where are we?"

Wyatt shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "We'll figure it out though, I promise."

Chloe nodded and buried her face against his shoulder, drawing in slow, shuddering breaths in an attempt to calm herself. Wyatt exchanged a concerned look with his brother and tried to pull his shattered wits into order.

"We need help," he eventually decided. "Even if we're not in our own world, we're still in San Francisco, right?"

Quickly picking up on his sibling's train of thought, Chris nodded and closed his eyes, sensing for the various members of their extended family. Holding Chloe close, Wyatt waited with baited breath and was more than a little concerned by the look of panic that came across his younger brother's face. When Chris finally opened his eyes again, their emerald-green depths were dark with untold grief.

Wyatt shook his head. "No – they can't be," he whispered. "There must be someone. There has to be."

Chris's eyes were full of unshed tears. "I can't sense any of them, Wyatt. There's barely even an echo. They've been gone for a long time, I think."

Chloe raised her head as the two brothers reeled from their horrible discovery. She gently touched Wyatt's stricken face in silent sympathy and then looked over at Chris. "Emily?" she asked a little hesitantly, not wanting to be insensitive but needing to know that her family were safe.

Chris bit his bottom lip. "She's all right – I sensed for her before. She's in Oakenvale though."

"Why?"

Chris shrugged. "I don't know."

"And my Mom, Dad? Aunt Bella and Uncle David?" Chloe asked frantically. "Please Chris, I need to know."

Her brother-in-law nodded and reached out with his mind again. "They're okay," he said a moment or two later. "They're in Oakenvale too."

"Maybe we should go there then," Chloe suggested.

"No," Wyatt cut in firmly. "At least not yet. I don't know what's going on here, but I do know that we need to get to the Book of Shadows ASAP if we're ever going to figure it out."

Chris nodded in solemn agreement, in spite of his burning need to check on his fiancée's wellbeing. "I guess your premonition wasn't so psychosomatic after all," he remarked sagely.

Wyatt stiffened at that. "I hope to god it was," he said bleakly.

"Why?" his brother asked.

"It's kind of hard to explain."

"Try - it could be important."

Wyatt nodded. "It wasn't like I went anywhere," he said. "It was as if the world shifted around me and I stayed in the same place."

"I don't understand," Chloe said. "Why is that significant?"

"Because if it really was a proper premonition," her husband explained gravely. "We're not just on a different plane or in some kind of parallel universe; we're in an entirely different future altogether."

"One that there's not necessarily a way home from," Chris said.

Wyatt nodded. "Because _home_," He crooked his fingers into quote marks, "Might not exist anymore," he finished.

Chloe shook her head. "No, no, that's impossible. If that's true, how come we remember? If the future changed, wouldn't we change with it?"

Folding his arms across his chest, Chris looked questionably at his brother. "She does have a point," he admitted. "Why do we remember?"

Wyatt shrugged. "Maybe someone fixed it that way," he suggested.

"That would take a hell of a lot of power," Chris pointed out.

"Which is why we need to get to the Book. If someone did do something like that, they'd have left us some kind of a message, don't you think?"

Chris nodded thoughtfully. "Seems reasonable," he concurred. "Umm…" He looked down at his bare chest and scruffy pyjama pants. "We should probably get dressed first," he decided.

Retreating to the bedroom, he located a pair of jeans, casual sweat-top and a pair of scuffed sneakers to wear. The clothes had a faintly unpleasant odour attached to them and he wrinkled his nose. He was seriously in need of a shower – and a shave, he realised as he ran his hand over his stubbly chin. Still, there was nothing for it right now; there were more pressing matters at hand. Going back into the lounge, he saw that Wyatt and Chloe had also located clothing for themselves.

"Don't say it!" his sister-in-law warned as a hint of a grin pulled at the corners of his lips. "It's the only thing here that fits."

She had changed out of the thin nightdress she'd been wearing and was now clad in a distinctly unflattering and supremely old-fashioned smock dress. It was covered in psychedelic blue and purple flowers and closely resembled a pair of old curtains that he'd once seen packed away in a box in the Manor attic. They were from the nineteen seventies, he remembered.

Chris laughed in spite of their dire situation. "Being pregnant is such a drag, huh?"

"Apparently no-one's ever heard of maternity chic," Chloe said, wrinkling her nose and plucking at the dress with obvious distaste. "I mean, have you ever seen anything so vile?"

Chris grinned. "Maybe the trend'll catch on," he said.

"Somehow I don't think that's very likely," his sister-in-law replied acidly.

She seemed to have recovered her lost composure somewhat, which was a relief. Her pregnancy made her overemotional, Chris knew, and she must be fearful for her baby too, which was perfectly understandable under the circumstances. They couldn't afford to have her fall all to pieces right now however. He and his brother had enough on their plate already.

"So, to the Manor then?" Chris asked, holding out his hands towards his two companions.

"To the Manor," Wyatt agreed with a nod, taking his brother's offered hand.

Chloe slipped her fingers into Chris's other hand, and then Wyatt felt his world tip on its axis as his brother orbed them to their childhood home.

"It feels different," he remarked conversationally, as they emerged on the deserted sidewalk outside the rather dilapidated-looking Manor.

"What does?" Chris asked.

"The way you orb," Wyatt explained,

Chris rolled his eyes. "Which is relevant right now because…?"

Wyatt shrugged nonchalantly. "I was just saying…"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "God, you two never change. Even though the whole world's apparently gone to hell, you're still ribbing each other."

Wyatt took her hand in his and smiled. "It's our favourite form of entertainment," he explained.

Chloe nodded, knowing there was a little bit more to it than that. It kept them sane, she reckoned. Sometimes the situations they had to face were fraught with danger and hidden perils - both physical and mental. They needed to keep their wits about them, and their perpetual needling of one another helped them to do that. It was their own unique way of reminding each other that they were in this together, no matter what.

"So, do you think anyone lives there?" she asked, nodding at the Manor.

The once beautiful house now looked run-down and ramshackle. The windows were cracked, the outside paintwork faded and peeling, while the garden was overgrown and choked with a jungle of weeds.

"I can't sense anyone," Chris replied. He looked enquiringly at his brother. "Do we just walk up to the front door?" he asked.

"Don't see why not," Wyatt said, leading the way.

The gate squeaked on its rusty hinges as he pushed it open, and Chloe felt her baby protest the high-pitched sound with a sharp kick. She placed her hands over her bump, relieved to feel her child move. He'd been unerringly quiet ever since she awoke. Back home, he was normally so active. She knew her health wasn't that good in this world, her pregnancy weighed heavily on her thin body and her back ached dreadfully. At home, while her size made her cumbersome and frequently tired, she nonetheless glowed with inner health. Here, she just felt weak, sickly and drained.

When they reached the top of the path, Chris lifted his hand to open the door with his telekinesis power, only to be blasted backwards by some sort of shimmering force field.

"Whoa!" Wyatt exclaimed, reacting quickly to pull Chloe out of the path of danger as his brother came hurtling past like a stone out of newly-fired catapult.

Chris landed with a resounding thud at the bottom of the short flight of steps. "Ow!" he said, rubbing his bruised coccyx as he gingerly rose to his feet. "That hurt!"

"Are you all right?" Wyatt asked, trying not to laugh at his brother's misfortune.

"Yes, no thanks to you," Chris retorted a little grumpily.

"Chloe's pregnant, Chris. And I would've orbed you if I could, you know that."

"I know," Chris said, waving off his brother's protest.

He hadn't really expected Wyatt to allow Chloe and the baby to get hurt, and he could have orbed himself to safety if he'd reacted quickly enough. Why would the Halliwell Manor deny entry to one of its own? It didn't make any sense.

"I guess we need to break the spell," Wyatt mused. "Did it feel like Charmed magic?" he asked his sibling.

Chris frowned. "Does it feel different?"

"Well, yeah," Wyatt replied with a roll of his eyes. "Of course it does."

"I've never really noticed to be honest."

"That's because you don't pay enough attention."

"Hey, it's your party, bro."

"Except that right now it's yours," Wyatt reminded him. "So, you'd better shape up and get with the programme."

Chris nodded, knowing how helpless his brother must feel without his powers. He concentrated on the faint buzz of magical energy that still zinged in his veins and tried to fathom out its origins.

"You said it feels different?" he asked his brother. "How exactly?"

"Female for a start," Wyatt replied.

"Are you saying we're blessed with girl-power?" Chris said, his eyes widening slightly.

"If you want to be strictly accurate about it, yeah. Magic takes on the characteristics of its owner though, so I imagine we've added a few XY chromosomes here and there by now."

"Glad to hear it," Chris said with a grin. "So apart from female, what else?"

"What I just said. Magic takes on the characteristics of its owner. Sense for Mom. Failing that, Aunt Paige or Phoebe."

Closing his eyes, Chris focused his thoughts inwards and was soon overwhelmed by the sense of a presence that he'd know anywhere, anyhow. He could be standing in the middle of a crowded room and he would always be able to pinpoint his Mom's exact location. She loomed that large for him.

"It was Mom," he reported, opening eyes again. "And the Aunts too, I think."

"The Power of Three?"

"Yeah, yeah, I guess."

"Won't that make it difficult to counteract?" Chloe asked worriedly. "I mean Wyatt doesn't have his power and…" She stopped and looked at Chris in consternation.

"I'm the runt of the litter?" he quipped lightly.

"No, that isn't what I meant."

"It's the truth though," Chris said deprecatingly. "Charmed or not, my power isn't strong enough to defeat the Power of Three."

"I don't think it needs to be," Wyatt said. "I reckon the force field is only intended to keep intruders out, not family. We should be able to undo the spell."

"We?" Chris asked delicately.

"I'm still a Halliwell even if I don't have my powers right now," Wyatt retorted defensively.

Chris nodded in silent agreement. "So, you reckon 'Open Sesame' is worth a try?" he joked.

Wyatt looked steadily at him, and then turned to gaze thoughtfully at the front door. He shook his head. "Nah, it couldn't be that simple," he murmured. He looked back at his brother. "Could it?" he asked.

"I was only joking, Wyatt."

"I know, but you may have just hit the nail on the head even so."

Chris scoffed. "Wyatt, come on. Be serious. 'Open Sesame.' Please! Mom and the Aunts have more finesse than that."

"I was thinking more along the lines of our family's own peculiar brand of 'Open Sesame' actually," Wyatt said.

"Huh?" Chris looked confused for a moment, and then realisation dawned. "Oh, oh right! I get it."

"Umm, I don't," Chloe cut in, tentatively raising her hand. "Explain please."

"It's probably easier just to show you," Wyatt told his wife, holding out his hand towards his brother.

Chris placed his palm in his and together they mounted the steps to stand in front of the closed door.

"Ready?" the elder of the two asked the younger.

"Yep, let's do it."

"The Power of Three will set us free," they chanted in unison.

The force field immediately shimmered an incandescent cerulean blue.

"The Power of Three will set us free."

A harmonious bell-note sounded resonantly from deep within the house, nominally welcoming them inside.

The Power of Three will set us free."

Finally, with an audible click, the door swung inwards on its hinges as the Manor ostensibly invited them across the threshold. The two brothers exchanged a triumphant grin.

"Open Sesame," Chris intoned with quiet satisfaction, and then determinedly led the way inside...

_**To be continued…**_


	3. Unwelcome Discoveries

**A RIFT IN TIME**

**Summary: **When a grown-up Wyatt and Chris unexpectedly find themselves in an alternate and evil future, they must work together with their past family to prevent the universe from spiralling into utter chaos before it's too late…

**Disclaimer: **The characters in Charmed do not belong to me. No infringement is intended, no profit is made. The characters of Emily and Chloe do belong to me though, but they can be borrowed as long as I'm asked first.

**Notes: **Hi all! Here is the next chapter as promised in my review replies. Hope you enjoy! If you remember from last time, Wyatt, Chris and Chloe have just woken up in a strange, dark world and have gone to the Halliwell Manor to try to find some answers...

**OOOOOO**

**Chapter 3 – Unwelcome Discoveries**

It was as if they'd just entered a world frozen in time.

With Chris taking the lead and Wyatt and Chloe following closely behind him, they cautiously moved further into the Manor hallway, all three of them on tenterhooks in case something unexpected happened while they weren't paying attention. As they reached the table in the centre of the entrance hall, the front door swung ponderously shut behind them, the click as it reconnected with its frame making them all whirl around in a burst of consternation.

"It's okay, we can open it again," Chris said confidently.

"How do you know?" Chloe asked, her voice hushed and wary. The atmosphere of the abandoned Manor was having that affect on her. It was as if they'd walked into the entrance hall of a mausoleum, rather than the lively family home that they all knew from their own time.

"I don't know," Chris replied, his voice similarly muted. "I just do."

He ran his fingers down the battered and roughened frame of the grandfather clock standing in the entranceway to the lounge, and then moved through the living space into the adjoining conservatory. Fingers intertwined, Wyatt and Chloe followed quietly in his footsteps, joining him as he paused in the doorway to survey the scene within.

Toys were strewn haphazardly across the floor and, curiously, a wash-basket full of folded clothes stood on the small table next to the wicker loveseat. It was as if the previous inhabitants had left in a hurry and hadn't bothered to clear up the mess first. Knowing her mother-in-law as she did, Chloe knew that something bad must have happened for Piper to leave her home in such a state. Most of the time, the woman was fastidious in the extreme.

While her husband and his younger brother wandered idly about among the scattered debris, Chloe crossed to the mantle and picked up the photograph that lay face down on its surface. It was a picture of Wyatt and Chris, aged about seven and five as far as she could judge. She'd seen many such pictures before, but this one was slightly different.

The boys were not quite so neat and well turned-out for a start - their clothing looked like it had come from some sort of thrift store. While not rich by any stretch of the imagination, the Halliwells had nevertheless been comfortably off when Wyatt and Chris had been growing up. Piper's nightclub had brought in a steady income, while Phoebe was a popular and successful newspaper columnist. The two boys had rarely wanted for anything. The dilapidated state of the surrounding furniture, the threadbare nature of the children's clothing, not mention the apparently homemade toys littering the floor, suggested that things had not been quite so prosperous this time around however.

Bending at the waist, Wyatt stooped to pick up a dusty but brightly painted wooden car from the floor. Turning it over in his hands, he examined it carefully, his brow furrowed in thought. "Looks like Dad's handy-work," he remarked to his brother.

Chris nodded, also recognising the telltale design of the piece. He remembered spending hours with Leo constructing a similar vehicle when he was about six or seven years of age. In fact, he thought he still had the end result in a box at the top of his closet back home. Wyatt hadn't seen the point of it all, mainly because he could conjure just about any toy he wanted out of thin air. Chris though, had inherited his father's practical skills, and had therefore loved the idea of constructing something from just its raw materials.

It had meant that he got his Dad all to himself too, which was an added bonus, along with the fact that, because he'd deigned not to take part, his brother couldn't outdo him as he normally did. As much as Chris loved his older sibling, it did sometimes grate that he was good at pretty much everything he turned his hand to. Living in Wyatt's shadow wasn't always easy, but the younger Halliwell bore the fortitude well.

It helped that he wouldn't swap places with his brother for love nor money, of course. He was fully aware that being Mr Twice-Blessed was sometimes more of a curse than a blessing. Wyatt had burdens and pressures to contend with that Chris could only imagine at, so he never begrudged his brother his exalted position, no matter how many times he ended up in second place on the leader board because of it.

Stepping carefully around the scattered toys, Chloe crossed the room to join them, wordlessly holding out the photograph that she'd found. Wyatt and Chris exchanged a meaningful look as they studied the picture, seeing the same hidden truths in it that she had. Their lives had apparently been very different in this particular version of the future - if indeed that was where they were. They were yet to confirm that as fact, but all the signs certainly pointed in that direction.

"The Book," Wyatt stated shortly, the need to gain that all-important confirmation at the forefront of his mind.

Chris nodded. "The Attic?" he suggested.

They took the stairs rather than orbing, wanting to inspect the rest of the house on their way up to the top floor. When they reached the first floor landing, Wyatt pushed open the door to what had always been his bedroom in the past. Battered but well-made bunk beds stood against one wall, and the closet and drawers were open as if someone had emptied them of their contents and packed in a hurry. The presence of the bunk beds was telling in itself. Obviously, he and Chris had still been sharing a room when the house was abandoned, which strongly suggested that their Aunts had never moved out and gotten married in this future too.

"I couldn't get a sense of any of the girls," Chris said quietly, somehow reading his brother's thoughts and confirming his bleak suspicions.

None of their cousins had ever been born it seemed, and that filled Wyatt with a deep abiding sorrow. The girls were intensely annoying at times, but that didn't mean he'd ever want to be without them. Given the age-range of the toys downstairs, together with the style of the decoration of the shared bedroom before him, it appeared that he and Chris hadn't even reached puberty before the family had left the Manor behind. Their world had apparently been turned upside down when they were both still young boys.

Their hearts filled with sorry regret, they moved along the corridor to their parent's room, which they found in a similar state to their own, showing all the signs of a hasty departure. Closet doors were open, drawers upended, and clothes were strewn across the bedspread and piled in untidy heaps on the sofa under the window.

"Oh!"

Chloe suddenly let out a sharp gasp and Wyatt whipped around to see his wife swaying dangerously on her feet. Acting on pure instinct, he reached out to steady her, concerned when she appeared to pass out in his arms for a brief moment before thankfully coming to again. He helped her over to the bed and urged her to sit down. Chloe put her forehead in her hands and drew in a few shaky breaths, and then lifted her face again and forced herself to smile at her worried husband.

"Whoa!" she said with a false little laugh, "Got a little light-headed there for a moment." She looked uncertainly at him. "Umm - do you think you could get me a drink of water please?"

"Chris!" Wyatt said sharply, but his brother had already acted, hurrying through into the adjoining bathroom, almost as concerned for Chloe's welfare as he was.

The reality of their situation was finally beginning to sink in for Chris. Not only were he and his brother stranded in this strange, unknown world, but they had a heavily pregnant Chloe and her unborn baby to take care of as well. It was only a few weeks to his sister-in-law's due date now, and Chris hadn't a clue whether there was any such thing as a hospital in this place. Would he end up having to help deliver his niece or nephew himself? And what then, he wondered - how on earth would they manage to care for a helpless infant in their current predicament?

Deliberately pushing those distracting thoughts to the back of his mind, he reached out and turned on the faucet, which spat out brown-coloured gunky liquid for a time before the water finally ran clear. Reaching down a dusty glass from the shelf above the sink, he rinsed it out, filled it to the brim, and then headed back into the bedroom with his offering.

"Thanks," Chloe said, sipping at the water gratefully. She had a little more colour in her cheeks now, which was encouraging, but she still looked incredibly tired and washed out even so.

Wyatt gently brushed her hair off her face and tenderly kissed her forehead. "I'm so sorry," he said in a stricken tone.

"For what?" Chloe said. "This is not your fault, Wyatt, and I'm okay now honestly. It was just a dizzy spell, nothing more. I think walking up those stairs took it out of me a bit, that's all."

Aware that she was only putting on a brave face, but also knowing that there wasn't much he could do about it right now, Wyatt reluctantly let his wife's non too subtle subterfuge pass. He silently vowed that he would be more aware that she wasn't quite as robust here as she was in their own time from now on however. Back home, her advancing pregnancy had only recently started to slow her down. Here though, it was evident that it took a much greater toll on her reserves of physical strength and apparently had done so for some time.

"I'm all right," Chloe repeated assuredly, setting aside the half-empty glass and taking his hands in hers. "We need to find the Book."

Wyatt nodded and looked at Chris, who leaned over and placed his hands over their interlaced fingers before orbing the three of them up to the attic. While his brother solicitously settled his weary wife on the couch, Chris took a quick look around the room. The attic was an inch thick in dust, but there were familiar items of furniture all around. The wooden bookstand in the centre of the room stood ominously empty however, and Chris felt his heart sink inside his chest.

"The Book's not here," he informed his brother and sister-in-law dejectedly.

"Do you think it's been destroyed?" Chloe asked fearfully.

Wyatt shook his head. "No, that's impossible."

"Since when?" Chris enquired, as he casually perched on the arm of sofa beside the two of them.

"Grams – Great-grams that is – told me that for as long as Charmed magic exists in the world, the Book of Shadows will remain. Chris still has his powers, so the Book has got be around somewhere."

"Maybe your Mom and Aunts hid it," Chloe suggested.

"Or it took steps to protect itself from those after it," Wyatt said.

"Couldn't you just summon it back then?" Chloe asked hopefully.

Wyatt smiled. "I'm sure we can come up with something," he assured her.

A glimmer of a memory fired in Chris's brain then, and he jumped to his feet. "_We_ won't have to," he said elatedly, crossing the room to the empty bookstand in three long strides. "My other self already did it for us."

"What do you mean?" Wyatt asked, rising to his feet and going over to join his brother.

"I read his diaries, remember? He had to summon the Book away from your evil self because the spell to bring him to the past was in it."

"And he wrote down the summoning spell?"

Chris nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah, it was stapled to one of the diary pages. It should work for us too, right? I mean we want the Book for a similar reason, don't we? To make the future better?"

Wyatt nodded. "It's worth a try at least anyway," he said. "Can you remember it?"

"Yep, I think so. Umm, let me think…" Chris paused and closed his eyes, calling to mind those scrawled lines of verse.

"Got it!" he declared a few moments later. Placing his hands on the edge of the wooden frame, he drew in a deep breath. "Okay, here goes…"

"I call upon the ancient power,

To help us in this darkest hour.

Let the Book return to this place,

Claim refuge in its rightful space."

There was a sudden whooshing sound, a flicker of blue light, and then the Book of Shadows literally fell out of sky and landed with a heavy thud and a puff of dust atop of the lectern. "It worked!" Chris exclaimed delightedly.

"Thank you little brother number one," Wyatt cast gratefully at the ceiling, mightily relieved that something was going right for them at last.

Chris's triumphant smile quickly faded however. "All right, so now we've got it, exactly what are we looking for?" he said.

"I don't know, anything unusual," Wyatt returned. "We'll know it when we see it, I guess."

Needing to feel useful, he elbowed his little brother aside and started to leaf through the Book, looking for something - anything - that would give them a clue as to what was going on. The Book was thinner than Wyatt remembered, but he supposed that was understandable given the circumstances. In their own time, the Charmed Ones had been particularly prolific in their activities. Here though, the Book obviously hadn't been updated in a long while.

Leaving Wyatt to his search, Chris wandered idly about the attic, picking up and examining various items here and there. Pulling open a drawer, he discovered a faded scrying board and a small box holding a pearlescent pink scrying crystal. Realising that whatever happened from here on in, they would probably be needing magical supplies, he rummaged purposely through various taped-up cardboard boxes until he found a couple of battered knapsacks.

After loading the board and its accompanying crystal into one of the packs, he continued to scavenge for whatever else he could find that might be useful to them. A box of matches and several squat candles were a given, and he discovered a set of protection crystals in the back of one of the cupboards too. Potion-making ingredients and accompanying implements he would find in the kitchen, he reasoned, and so he straightened up, intending to orb downstairs to take a look.

He glanced over at Wyatt to let him know where he was going, but stopped when he saw the slight frown creasing his brother's forehead. "What is it?" he asked.

"It could be nothing," Wyatt said slowly, his eyes narrowed in thought. "But there's a spell here written by Dad."

"Is that unusual?" Chloe asked from where she was still ensconced on the sofa.

"For him to write in the Book? No, not really…" Wyatt replied absently.

"He usually only writes whitelighter stuff though," Chris pointed out.

Wyatt nodded. "I know. For him to write in a spell _is_ definitely odd, and this one doesn't seem to make any sense."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, it doesn't say what it's for, for a start. And I can't really work it out either. It's some sort of summoning spell, I think."

Chris leaned across his brother and read the spell. "Weird!" he concluded.

"It could be a trap, of course," Wyatt went on pessimistically.

Chris wrinkled his nose. "Possibly," he concurred. "But that's not very likely, is it? I mean, that's definitely Dad's handwriting – which can be forged, I know, but do you really think that the Book would let just anyone write in it?"

"I guess not," Wyatt said.

"So give it a go then," Chris urged, nudging his brother encouragingly with his shoulder.

Wyatt was distinctly reluctant however. "Maybe you should do it," he said. "I mean with my powers gone…"

"The Power of Three spell worked for us downstairs," Chris reminded him, "Which proves you're still a witch, even if your active powers have gone walkabout. Stop being such a defeatist, okay? It's seriously unbecoming, you know."

Wyatt had the grace to look ashamed of himself. "Sorry," he said contritely.

"It'll do you good not be Mr All-Powerful for a while," Chris went on. "It'll teach you some much needed humility, I reckon."

"Funny," Wyatt responded with dry sarcasm.

"I thought so," Chris returned with aplomb, and then playfully hit his brother upside the head. "Just get on with it, will you?"

Buoyed by his brother's seemingly unbreakable faith in him, Wyatt recited the spell in a clear, crisp voice:

"I bring forth from space and time,

An echo of my family line.

I seek nothing but truth and am guided by love,

Let a window open to the far-off heavens above."

As the last words of the spell died on his lips, the pages of the Book began to flutter as if blown by a force-ten gale until the heavy tome finally snapped shut with an audible thump. The triquetra symbol on its front cover began to glow a brilliant white, and then a spiral of silvery mist seemed to emerge from the Book itself. Twisting like a tornado, the glittery cloud arched high into the air, and then settled back down to earth where it coalesced into human form, much like a genie being freed from its bottle. This particular 'genie,' however, was not of the normal variety and also possessed a very familiar face…

"Dad!" both Wyatt and Chris exclaimed in shocked surprise.

Leo's face was grave as he looked between his two sons. "Boys," he greeted them solemnly. "You discovered our message then."

"_Our _message? What do you mean 'our message'?" Wyatt said. "What the hell is going on, Dad?"

Leo opened his mouth to reply, but Chris cut in before he could utter a word. "Are you from this time or our time?" he demanded. "What happened here? Why are we in crazy bizarro-land?"

Leo held up his hand to silence their questions. "I need you to listen carefully," he said urgently. "I don't have much time. This projection will only last for so long."

"What do you mean 'this projection'?" Wyatt queried with a frown.

"I'm not really here, Wyatt," his father explained. "I'm an echo of myself from before the shift. I'm here to give you certain instructions, but it's down to you how you act upon them."

"And could you actually _be_ any more cryptic?" Chris remarked with dry sarcasm.

Leo shot his younger son a faint smile. "Well, if you'd let me explain without all the constant interruptions," he said lightly.

Both of his sons grinned at him. "Okay so we're listening," Wyatt said with an incline of his head.

"Time has a purpose," Leo told them gravely. "Its conclusion is an unimaginable way into the future, but the Elders and other magical beings were created to make sure that it reaches that ultimate goal. The past, future and present can all be changed, but Time has to stay within certain limits or it veers completely off course. That's essentially what's happened here – time has broken free of those set limits. It's what is called a 'parallax shift' and they're incredibly rare events. There have only been two other occurrences since the beginning of time. Each time the wrong has been righted though, and the progress of time has been restored to its intended path."

He paused and looked soberly at Wyatt. "We would have had more time to prepare if I'd realised what you'd seen," he said apologetically. "As it was though, we only had a few hours to act so there wasn't any time to warn you both. The Elders have made it so that your previous life's consciousness inhabits this time's version of yourselves. You need to find out the reason for the shift and correct it. If you don't, the result will be utter disaster."

"Well, that's gonna be kind of difficult without my powers," Wyatt remarked with heavy cynicism.

Leo frowned. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"My powers are gone, Dad."

Leo's eyes widened at that, and he immediately turned his questioning gaze on his other son.

"I'm still more or less in one piece," Chris answered his unspoken question, "Some of my powers are a little bit ropey though."

Leo nodded thoughtfully. "And what about your Mom, Aunts and I? Do you know if any of us survived the shift?" he enquired.

Wyatt shook his head. "No, we don't think so. It looks like the family left the Manor years ago. It was magically sealed when we got here – by a Power of Three spell - and Chris can't sense any of the others."

"You need to find out what happened here," Leo said. "It could give you some vital clues as to what caused this. The girls and I obviously took some preventive measures to protect you both. It stands to reason that we would have also left instructions for when you were old enough to take on the family legacy."

Wyatt nodded. "So, will we get our memories of this time at some point?" he asked.

Leo shrugged. "That, I don't know. It's possible but I wouldn't count on it. The first thing you need to do is find a way to restore your powers and then…"

"What if we can't?" Wyatt asked glumly. "Restore my powers, I mean."

"You can," Leo insisted firmly. "Weren't you listening before? I told you that magical beings were created to keep time on track and _you_ are a crucial part of that, Wyatt. Your powers still exist, they have to. Whether you use them for good or for evil is the only variable in all of this. Your magical destiny is indestructible, that's the whole point."

"Okay," Wyatt said. "So I get my powers back. Then what?"

"That's up to you," his father replied. "You and your brother were chosen for a reason. I'm sure you won't have too much trouble figuring it out. Be creative. You're good at that."

Wyatt grinned. "So you're not going to offer any pointers then?" he said. "You're just gonna leave your only sons flailing about in the wind?"

Leo chuckled. "I think you know me better than that," he said. "You'll need some back up on this, so I suggest you seek out those you can trust to help you."

"A bit difficult that, seeing as you're all dead," Chris said harshly, speaking for the first time in a while. A horrible realisation was slowly beginning to dawn on him, a painful and undeniable truth that he subconsciously hadn't allowed himself to face up until now.

Wyatt cast a startled look at his brother. His tone of voice was decidedly belligerent and he could sense an underlying anger simmering in him as well. "What's eating you?" he asked bluntly.

"Oh nothing!" Chris exploded. "Just that the Elders – not to mention my own father - have somehow seen fit to let you keep your wife, but have conveniently forgotten my fiancée in all of this. She's in Oakenvale, not here with me. That means she doesn't remember, doesn't it?"

He glared at his Dad, his green eyes glittering with uncharacteristic enmity. "What's the matter? Aren't I worthy of the consideration?" he demanded bitterly.

Leo blanched at his son's venomous outburst, but then suddenly seemed to gather himself. "That had nothing to do with it, Chris," he remonstrated reproachfully. "Have you any idea what kind of power was involved in what we did? It was hard enough to extend the spell beyond Wyatt to you, let alone to anyone else."

"So why does Chloe remember then?" Chris shot back.

Having finally registered her presence, Leo studied his daughter-in-law carefully, his eyes narrowed in thought. Chloe had risen to her feet and crossed to join her husband, her expression stricken and guilty in the face of her brother-in-law's righteous anger. Wyatt slipped a comforting arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him for support.

"I guess because of the baby," Leo eventually concluded. "The spell was directed at Wyatt and the baby's part of him, especially in vitro. In magical terms, the baby doesn't actually become a completely separate person until after he or she is born. His existence is irrevocably interwoven with that of his parents until then."

"So what you're saying is that the baby was affected by the Elder's spell because he or she is part of me," Wyatt said. "And that Chloe was affected because the baby is inside of her right now."

Leo nodded. "In roundabout terms, yes," he agreed. "Or at least that's the only logical explanation I can think of."

"So, when the baby's born, will I forget?" Chloe asked with fearful anxiety.

Her father-in-law shook his head. "No Chloe, it doesn't work like that," he reassured her. "The spell is cast now; it can't reverse itself in that way."

He turned his gaze back on his younger son. "Chloe was not chosen over Emily, nor Wyatt over you for that matter, Chris," he told him. "The spell was directed at you and your brother only. A few year's ago, it would've been your Mom and Aunts who got given the job. Now it's you, and you have a duty to do what must be done regardless of the personal cost."

"That's kind of harsh, Dad," Wyatt cut in when he saw his brother's jaw tighten in response to their father's strong words.

Leo didn't relent however. "It's meant to be," he said. "This isn't some walk in the park demon hunt. If you succeed, it'll probably be the most important thing you'll ever do in your entire lives. It took every bit of power the Elders possessed to set this up. Mankind _and _your family are depending on you to correct this, so don't let them – or us - down."

"Okay, so no pressure there then," Chris quipped with a watery little chuckle.

Leo's expression softened. "Don't think for a minute I don't feel for you," he said, reaching out to squeeze his second son's shoulder in quiet sympathy. "Of course I do, I'm your Dad…"

"I sense a big but coming…" Chris cut in wryly.

Leo smiled, recognising the inherent apology in the glibness of his son's words and accepting it with quiet grace. "I know it won't be easy, but you have to try to set your pain aside and focus on what it is you have to do. Use it as incentive if you like. Return the future to the way it was and you'll get Emily back."

"That's if the future goes back to the way it was before," Chris said. "There's no guarantee on that, is there?"

"Actually, this time, there is," Leo told him. "That's the nature of a parallax shift. It's not a gradual change. It's a cataclysmic one. Time has to return to exactly the same place before it can continue onwards. Reverse the shift and you'll wake up back in your own world - with Emily by your side."

Chris nodded, blinking back the tears that had risen unbidden to his eyes. Leo pulled him into a rough embrace and rubbed him comfortingly on the back. "You can do it," he assured him.

Chris nodded miserably against his father's shoulder, and then drew in a deep breath and stepped back. Leo shot him a speculative look then, one eyebrow raised in question. "Fiancée?" he enquired pointedly.

"Oh, umm… yeah," Chris admitted sheepishly, ducking his head as an uncharacteristic flush of self-consciousness coloured his cheeks.

"You _were_ planning on telling us at some point, I presume?" Leo said.

"Of course. It was just that last night…" Chris glanced over at Chloe and stopped. "Umm, well, never mind."

Leo chuckled. "It's okay, I think I get it," he said, fully aware of the entertainment to be gained from thwarting the Halliwell sisters' passionate ambition to make over your love life. He and Piper had endured the same thing on occasion in their early days of their relationship, but their sons had definitely copped the worst of it. Chloe had similarly overbearing designs on her cousin's happiness it appeared.

"I swear I'm going to kill Emily when we get back home!" the blonde witch declared indignantly, her violet-blue eyes wide with outrage.

Chris laughed in spite of himself. "Well, if you'd ever learned the meaning of the word 'subtle'…" he told her impishly.

Chloe poked her tongue out at him and Leo smiled. "Congratulations son," he said with heartfelt sincerity.

"Yeah - it's about time, bro," Wyatt concurred with a grin, clapping his brother on the shoulder.

Chloe stared at her husband in disbelief. "Whatever happened to 'what does it matter as long as they're happy'?" she enquired.

"That was just a buffer against your match-making ambitions," he told her cheekily and she pouted at him in mock annoyance.

Chris sighed. "Do you think we could get back to the point?" he asked rather plaintively. "This doesn't seem right somehow, not without Emily here."

Leo nodded. "I think my time is getting short anyway," he said, holding up his hand. The outline of his body was beginning to blur and was becoming distinctly fuzzy-looking.

"You haven't given us much to go on," Wyatt complained, as his father reached out to hug him farewell.

"That's because I don't know much," Leo said.

"So how are we supposed to make things right again then?" Chris asked.

"There'll be signs and portents to help with that," Leo said, "Both here and in our own time. Time, destiny, whatever you want to call it, isn't completely passive, you know. It'll have left clues for you to find along the way. Think of it as a unique kind of treasure hunt if you want. You need to search here for clues _and_ think back over what has happened in the last few years back home too. Put everything together and you'll have your answer."

"You said we should seek out those we trust for help," Wyatt said. "But how do we know who we _can_ trust?"

"You'll know, Wyatt. Those you trusted in your own time are the people you can trust now, provided nothing has come about to lead them down the wrong path. People don't genetically alter when time changes, life's influence on them does."

Wyatt nodded solemnly. "You're suggesting we build some sort of army," he said with some distaste, his whitelighter instincts baulking at the idea.

Leo smiled. "Isn't that what you were doing in your own time?" he argued sagely. "It may have been relatively passive and non-regimented in nature, but it was an army all the same. It's who you are, Wyatt, who you were born to be, and you can't escape from it."

Wyatt opened his mouth to reply to that, but the air around Leo suddenly seemed to crackle and his image broke up like a TV that had lost transmission. "Dad?" he asked frantically.

There was a slight pop and the Elder solidified again. "It's time," he told them, his voice sounding as if it was coming from faraway. "Good Luck boys, and never forget that your family loves you."

"We won't," Wyatt assured him.

"We'll see you when we get back home," Chris said, trying to sound upbeat but not completely succeeding.

"I'm counting on it," Leo returned with a wink. "I have another marriage blessing to perform, don't I?"

He smiled warmly at them, his blue-green eyes twinkling with fatherly affection. Then, with a flicker and another pop, he was gone.

Chris immediately turned to his brother. "So, what now?" he asked.

**OOOOOO**

**_Meanwhile, in Oakenvale…_**

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Emily Hargreaves looked up to find her mother standing over her. She'd escaped into the garden of their rather rundown little house at dawn's first light, and had been sitting with her back against a tree, staring into space ever since. Bella had provided her with a simple breakfast of toast with peanut butter and a glass of milk about an hour ago. Evidently, she had now decided to take steps to confront her daughter's obvious distraction as well.

Emily shrugged noncommittally in answer, but taking this as a partial yes; Bella sat down on the fragrant grass next to her daughter and waited for her to speak.

"It's kind of hard to explain," Emily eventually said. "I have this strange feeling… That something is about to happen, something unexpected. I know it's crazy but…"

Bella shook her head. "No, no, it's not," she said. "You're a witch, Emily, and there's a certain innate intuitiveness associated with that. It's always wise to listen to that inner voice. More often that not, it's trying to tell you something important."

Emily nodded, and then looked down at her hands resting in her lap. "I dreamed about Chloe again last night too," she admitted softly.

Bella sighed. "Honey…"

"I know…" Emily quickly interrupted. "I know she's probably dead, Mom, I'm not stupid. People who are taken – they almost never return, I know that. I just… I'm not ready to let go of hope yet, I guess."

"Sweetie, it's been almost three years now. God knows, we've all been through hell, but we need to try to move on. Your Uncle and Aunt have managed to put aside their grief and rediscover their purpose in life - I think it's time for you to follow their example and do the same. You're stagnating here, Emily. Living day-to-day is no kind of life for anyone, especially not for someone as bright and vibrant as you."

Emily sighed. "I don't feel particularly vibrant right now," she said despondently.

"And what do you think Chloe would say to that?" her mother asked pointedly.

"Something along the lines of 'Stop being such a pathetic excuse for a human being and pull yourself together, girl'," Emily replied.

"Exactly," Bella said. "And you're doing her an injustice if you ignore that. You owe her so much more."

Emily's lips twisted into a wry little smile. "You have a way with words, you know that?" she said lightly.

Bella cupped her daughter's sad face in her hands and kissed her on the forehead. "I just want you to start living again, honey."

Emily nodded, then stood up and dusted herself off. "I think I might go into town and hang out for a while," she said.

Bella smiled as she also rose to her feet. "That sounds like an excellent idea," she commended. "Just make sure you're back before curfew, okay?"

"I will, Mom."

Emily leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, and then turned on her heel and went back into the house. Bella watched her go with some relief. Finally – maybe – they were getting somewhere at long last…

**OOOOOO**

_**Back at the Manor…**_

"So, what now?"

Wyatt looked at his brother, who had, with those three seemingly innocuous words, just placed the responsibility squarely back on his shoulders where he obviously felt it belonged. Chris would continue to back him up, but the inference was clear – any further self-pity over his lack of powers would no longer be tolerated. The time for wallowing in his misfortune was over.

A plaintive 'why me?' hovered on Wyatt's lips, but he didn't voice it. Deep down, he knew why. He was a born leader and Chris, an effective second-in-command. His brother would take over where necessary and direct his steps if he faltered. Ultimately, though, he did not have the discipline required to lead. He was just that little bit too erratic and unpredictable. Wyatt had a much more solid and steadfast personality however. He was their father's son whereas Chris was overtly their mother's. Their parent's long and happy marriage had already proved that to be a good balance, and he and his brother's strong friendship was an additional testament to that.

"We stay here," he decided, "For the time being at least anyway. Mom and the Aunts magically sealed the Manor for a reason, and I don't think it was just because they didn't want it ransacked. I think it was because they knew we'd find our way back here one day."

"We should check out where our other selves have been staying too," Chris said. "There could be some clues there."

Wyatt nodded in agreement. "First though, I think breakfast is in order. I don't know about anyone else but my intestines are threatening to devour themselves right now."

"And where are we going to get food from?" Chloe demanded peevishly. "The Manor's obviously been shut up for years and, in case you hadn't noticed, none of us are looking particularly well-nourished. Something tells me food is in pretty short supply around here."

Chris exchanged a startled look with his brother, rather surprised by his sister-in-law's irritable outburst. Chloe was normally so sunny-natured; it was Emily whose moods changed with the direction of the wind. No, he chastised himself as a sudden anguish twisted his insides, don't think about Emily. Dwelling on it would only make the pain worse.

"We do have certain advantages," Wyatt told his wife in a mollifying tone. "Maybe our other selves just didn't know that they did."

"Didn't know what?" Chloe said, "How to produce food out of thin air?"

Wyatt grinned. "Exactly."

Chris closed his eyes with a groan. "Fabulous," he said.

"What?" his brother enquired.

"In case you've forgotten, you don't have your powers right now, and I'm not very good at this. A complete disaster at it in fact."

Chloe frowned. "I didn't know you had the power to conjure," she said to her husband.

"I don't – well, not in the pure sense anyway. A proper conjurer calls objects forth with his or her mind. You can do it with a spell however."

"Except it's notoriously problematical," Chris cut in. "You have to get the wording and the intonation exactly right, or you end up with the wrong thing – i.e. a live cow rather than hamburger." He shuddered. "Some people find it easy, but other people – like me – definitely don't."

"I think my orbing power helps with that," Wyatt went on, taking over the narrative. "It's a closely related thing, except with orbing you're calling forth an object that already exists, whereas with conjuring you're producing it from nothing."

"But isn't telekinesis similar too?" Chloe asked.

Wyatt shook his head. "No, that's a completely different kind of visualisation. With TK, you're moving stuff with your mind, whereas with orbing and conjuring you're basically requesting that it come to you."

"Don't worry, I never really got the distinction either," Chris said off Chloe's confused look, "But he's right, his conjuring spells do always work – I think because he doesn't just say the words, he thinks them as well."

"You wouldn't necessarily need your powers to do that then, would you?" Chloe said to Wyatt.

"Umm, I think it's a bit more complicated than that," he replied. "When I conjure with a spell, everything appears out of blue orb lights."

"She's right though, Wyatt," Chris cut in. "You don't _need _your active powers to do it. They just give you an extra advantage."

"I guess," Wyatt said rather dubiously.

"I still think it'd be safer than letting me try," Chris said. "You do remember the nymphets, don't you?"

Wyatt grinned widely. "Oh yeah!" he said, his blue eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Nymphets?" Chloe questioned.

"I was actually aiming for wood nymphs," Chris told her, "Only I miscalculated somewhat."

Chloe frowned. "Aren't they the same thing?"

"Umm… not exactly. Wood nymphs are sweet, naïve and completely innocent. Nymphets, however, are definitely not and they're also… err, somewhat aggressive."

Wyatt laughed at that. "I'll say," he concurred emphatically.

Chloe looked long-sufferingly between the two grinning brothers. "I take it they're aggressive in a way I really don't want to know about?" she said primly.

Chris laughed. "Don't worry; nothing improper happened – not for want of trying on their part though, I have to admit. I didn't think Bianca would be very impressed however, and Wyatt's got no sense of adventure so…"

"Hey!" Wyatt protested, thumping his brother on the shoulder. "That had nothing to do with it. I have more discerning tastes that's all."

Chloe shook her head with a helpless little laugh. "Just when I think I've heard it all," she said. "Oh and good answer by the way," she told her husband.

He grinned at her and then his expression turned serious again. "Okay, I'll give it a try," he said.

"The conjuring spell, I meant," he added off his brother's distinctly juvenile snicker.

Chris grinned and then headed for the attic doorway. "I'll see you two downstairs," he said over his shoulder, "Gotta answer a rather urgent call of nature first if you know what I mean."

"Okay so too much information," Wyatt said with a grimace.

Chris laughed and then clattered down the attic stairs ahead of them; jumping the last four or five steps in one huge bound before he disappeared into the bathroom. Wyatt and Chloe followed at a more sedate pace, then took the second flight of steps down to ground floor and went through into the kitchen.

"You will get your powers back, you know," Chloe said, instinctively picking up on her husband's inner disquiet even though he hadn't voiced it.

Wyatt paused in the act of retrieving various items of crockery from the cupboards. "It's not that," he told her. "I'm just a bit worried about how Chris is going to cope with all of this."

"All of what?" Chloe asked as she lowered her cumbersome form into one of the kitchen chairs.

Wyatt sighed. "You heard what Dad said about seeking out those we can trust," he replied. "And, apart from my family, there's only one other person I would put at the top of that list."

"Emily," Chloe said with a sigh.

Wyatt nodded. "Yeah," he agreed softly. "I don't know what it'd be like to have someone you love look at you with absolutely no recognition in their eyes, but I can certainly imagine. And it's not just that, is it? We don't know what her life is like here, do we?"

"I'm not sure I follow," Chloe said.

"What if she has a boyfriend? Or even worse, is married or has a kid or something?"

"But Emily'd never…" Chloe started and then trailed off with a sigh. "Well, she wouldn't if she knew," she amended.

"But she doesn't, does she?" Wyatt pointed out. "And she could hardly be blamed if she was involved with someone. Chris has no claims over her in this life, nor does she have any obligations to him. To all intents and purposes, they're strangers."

"So maybe we should leave her out of this," Chloe said.

"No," a voice said from the doorway. They both turned to see Chris standing there, his expression strained but strangely determined.

"She's our best way into this world," he said grimly. "It's not just a case of us finding people that we trust to help us; they've got to trust us too. Whatever else this life has made her; Emily is still your cousin, Chloe. She'll trust you and, in turn, she'll grow to trust us as well."

"That all sounds very nice and logical, Chris," Chloe said, "But we're not dealing with logic here, are we? We're dealing with emotions and they can be pretty unpredictable. Do you honestly think you can handle it?"

"I have to," Chris told her. "I don't have any other choice."

"And what about afterwards?" Chloe ploughed on, "When you get home? What if it makes you look at her in a different light? What if you end up resenting her for something that her other self did? What then?"

"I won't," Chris said firmly. "That much I do know. I have enough experience of having an 'other self' to know that one is not responsible for, or beholden to the actions and choices of the other. It'd be pretty hypocritical of me to apply different rules to Emily than I've done to myself, don't you think?"

"Facing the reality might be easier said than done though, Chris," Wyatt pointed out wisely.

"Maybe," Chris said with a shrug. "You weren't actually going to suggest that we don't contact her though, were you?" he added knowingly.

Wyatt shifted rather uncomfortably. Personal loyalties and destined responsibilities were sometimes a tricky mix to manage. In this case though, with everything that was at stake…

"I didn't think so," Chris answered for him.

"I'm sorry; it's not that I don't…"

"Wyatt, I get it, okay?" Chris cut in. "Don't get your boxers in a wad. It's probably going to be horribly painful, but I'm not stupid, I know it's what we have to do. If we don't, we might not find a way home, and then there won't be a me and Emily to worry about anyway."

He lifted his green-eyed gaze to his brother's blue-eyed one. "I'm just going to have to deal, I guess."

Wyatt nodded. "Just don't think you have to put on a brave face all the time, okay?" he said.

Chris inclined his head in response to that, and then forcibly shook off the gloomy despondency that had settled like a persistent rain cloud above his head.

"So, were you planning on feeding us anytime soon?" he asked pointedly. "Or do we have to revert to cannibalism for nourishment? Cus I've gotta say, bro, out of the three of us here, you're definitely the one with the most meat on his bones…"

_**To be continued…**_

_**A/N2: **The little Emily scene is deliberately vague btw. You're going to go on the same voyage of discovery as the boys, although you will have some insider information here and there! ;-) Oh, and I made up all the stuff about the 'parallax shift' too - I have a supremely overactive imagination! LOL!_


End file.
